PMS 2.0 1661 - TNF Recap, NFL Week 9 Preview/Picks, Nick Saban, Ian Rapoport, Desmond Howard, Stanford Steve, & AJ Hawk

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to another fantastic Feel Good Friday, November 6th, 2026. This sports program begins right now. Football is the greatest. It's the reason why I am here on the hallowed grounds of the University of Notre Dame as it hosts number one Miami Hurricanes tomorrow night, college game day, 9 a.m. Eastern here with a litany of guests and surprises and celebrations. We are so incredibly lucky that we get a chance to talk about ball. That's A.J. Hawk. He's a, oh, that was A.J. That's A.J. Hawk, college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner. A.J., won verse 11 with a massive storyline. Malachi Toney, top three in Heisman odds. Baby Jesus, a wide receiver who helped the Miami Hurricanes get all the way to the finals in the national championship last year. Returns. He's on pace to break every single record. This guy's an absolute beast. He's a dog. The quarterback, Darren Mensah, that they bring in from Duke, he's unbelievable when Malachi's on the field. Would any quarterback be unbelievable with Malachi on the field? Probably. Mensah without Malachi on the field, not as great. But this is an entire week lead up now. Couple days to Mario Cristobal to kind of prepare. I think we're going to see a lot of running the rock from Miami. That is not from any inside information, but I think they got big Fletcher that we saw during that entire playoff. Run last year, a new offensive line, but still bodies. And then Notre Dame, the CFP committee putting them at 11. Say this is a must win. If you want to get into the big dance, CJ Carr has a chance to cement this particular Notre Dame team into the playoffs. Basically, it is a showcase of college football, not only here, but across the country tomorrow. AJ, it is getting into great football season, brother. Yeah, it is. It looks like that. You're you're shot to seeing those those gray skies over that historic field. Behind you just really makes me know like, hey, we're in the heart of it. This is football season. This is this is where we want to be, especially primetime game tomorrow night. It's going to be great. But don't you feel like that pressure is squarely on the Notre Dame fighting Irish for this one? Obviously, Miami. Yes, they want to get a big win. They want to stay number one. But you already have, you know, your guy, as you said, Malachi Tony is out. And if if Miami drops one, they can still find a way to squeak into the playoffs or make the playoffs pretty easily. Notre Dame, it's all it's all it's up against them right now, man. It's win or go home, it feels like. Yeah, CFP putting that them at 11 was, hey, this is it. This is it. You are either dropping out here or you're going to stay in for the rest of the season. Not saying that every game is easy in college football. OK, getting a group of dudes, 18 to 24. And I guess there's still some 27, 30 year olds hanging around from everything that happened around COVID and such. But it's a young group of men going through a lot of things. And football is a difficult game that requires everybody coming together every single week. You can get got by anybody. In college football. I mean, we've seen the App State Michigan thing happen whenever we don't think it's possible. So I'm not saying every game is easy. But with the way this Notre Dame team has played, if they beat Miami, you're talking about, you know, pretty nice little coast here into the playoffs. And also for themselves, I think they'd like to know who they are as well. You know, I think Notre Dame, you lose to BYU. How do you feel about your team this year? We we kind of geared up for this particular year, opted out of the Pop-Tart Bowl last year because they thought that's not the way. We want this to end with the boys sitting out because they're going into the draft. It's not the playoff. We got a lot of guys returning. We're going to try to rebuild and reload. It's like, well, here it is. This is what everything's about this weekend. And that's the the greatness of what is being deemed. I don't want to break any news. I don't break any news. But we got we got separation Saturday. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We got separation Saturday coming in college football. It's not just here, you know, with Miami coming to town. First time back since whenever Jason Sudeikis says guest picker cannot wait for that. It's not just here. It's not just here. It's not just here. Joe Montana, Jerome Bettis, Joe Montana, Jerome Bettis. I believe many. Yeah. I mean, tomorrow morning is going to be a party. We cannot wait to celebrate this particular game, but also what's happening across the college football slate. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Dad Cowboys AP tone published college football. Oh, yeah. Huge weekend tone. It's so many games. It's going to be tough to literally cover them how they should be tomorrow on a three hour college football show. Yeah, it's crazy. And there's, you know, we pop that up there and it's nine to 10 games with serious playoff implications. Like when you look at a BYU, you're not safe if you lose it in that one. Texas and Mizzou is a playoff game. The loser there has three losses and you're, you don't want to be in that three loss group. Could you still get in with three losses? Yes. But do you want to? No. UCLA wins. I think they're in because then they, you know, they have Illinois coming to them and then two other games. Can you, are you going to leave out? Two loss, big 10 team. I don't think so. Bama and LSU. You take that one. You're at three losses. You're in that three loss group. Same with Ohio state and Oregon. That's a playoff game there. Tennessee and Kentucky. The same thing. If Ole Miss wins, if Ole Miss wins, I think they're in the playoff looking at their schedule going down. Ole Miss has, after this, they have Oklahoma, Wofford and Mississippi State. They're going to be in favorite in every single one of those. Wofford this late in the season? Yeah. SEC does that. The penultimate week for the SEC, they always schedule these FCS teams. Iowa and Northwestern. Playoff game. And then you talked about the implications for Notre Dame and Miami. There's nine to 10 serious playoff slash playoff implication games this weekend. And it's, it's going to be awesome. And it will be a separation Saturday. Yeah, it certainly will be separation Saturday. Cannot wait to celebrate that all day tomorrow, starting tomorrow morning, 9 a.m. Eastern and AJ, you know, we've gone here five minutes without talking about what happened last night. Well, boy, oh boy. I think a lot of people got a chance to witness what this Jacksonville Jaguars team is and has been. When you talk about Duval domination, you talk about them maybe taking out on a little disrespectful Chuck Pagnano yesterday on the program in the back here, sitting in AQ Shipley's couch at the Hammer Don studio. What coach Liam Cohen has done to Jacksonville, obviously the locker room, obviously each of his players, including Trevor Lawrence, who was heralded as maybe the greatest prospect since you name it, coming into the draft. What coach Liam Cohen has done to Jacksonville, obviously the locker room, obviously the locker room, obviously the locker room, obviously the locker room, obviously the locker room, the defense is a wall. I mean, I don't know how else you describe it. The thought that Derrick Henry was going to be able to just beat this team down because he's Derrick Henry was very natural. I think for us all who have eyes and have seen Derrick Henry play football over the years, I think we all thought to ourselves, Joey Fagnano, Tom, what was he wearing on his right foot there? That looked like a snowboard boot to me as someone who went to Seven Springs all the time. It looked just like a snowboard boot. Yeah. I think Tom actually, you know, he's a snowboard boot. He worked the slopes in high school. So I think he would know that does kind of look like a boot that you would have to wear if you were attaching yourself to something else. Yeah, exactly. So like the fact that this is just what his foot was and we had seen the pictures all week coming out of this right ankle wrapped pretty good, but it wasn't really a topic of conversation seemingly by a lot of people, including Baltimore is like, Hey, he's our star is guy undrafted free agent. Okay. Out of Yukon independent school, way to go play Yukon schedule though. Did Yukon schedule? With a bomb right ankle. That looks like it's going to need some sort of surgery. Probably after this entire thing, he's gritting it out, gutting it out. Cause this is his first NFL start getting an opportunity because of the misfortunes that have happened ahead of him with Huntley and, and Lamar Jackson. He had no fucking chance. What are we talking about? What are we talking? And then, and then it was going to talk to the table at boss of Connor and at Ty Schmidt con man. I thought it was 35% chance of rain, 14% chance of rain. Funiano had no chance. We're never going to see Funiano again. He had no chance. He had no shot last night. I thought maybe he did. Yeah. Right. Rain, box, ankle, this Jaguars defense. They're so good. They are so good. You look at all the stats going into the game. We were reading off the stats yesterday. We're like, he's Jacksonville Jaguars defense. Number one in the league against the rush. They've only given up four rushing touchdowns in the back end. All they get to the quarterback as well. You can't pass a little bit, but you know, they haven't really had the opportunity to do it because they've been winning so many games. It's like this team, I think it's hard for all of us and I'm in the AFC South and I'm I've watched Colts lose the Jacksonville Jaguars. I've been a part of the Colts losing the Jacksonville Jaguars on a very regular occasion. Me picking the Baltimore Ravens plus 10 last night after seeing how that game went might be the most ridiculous thing I've ever done in my entire life. Con man, what the hell were we thinking? And Ty, I'll start with you. You were trying to get me not to jump ship from the Jags because I literally just saw what they did to the Colts last weekend. We got, we got entire business collapsing. In front of our eyes here in Indianapolis because of what this Jags team just did to us last week. And I seemingly forgot about it. Ty and Connor, you were with me. Yeah. Listen, you know, Hey, I get it. I mean, it was a fun story. We, we were getting very Italian yesterday. We were having fun with Joe Fignon, you know, and thinking of what, you know, what could have been, but yeah, they were going to get their ass kicked all night. Uh, no matter what I think, you know, I mean, you, you know, again, you just said it. You saw him last week. You saw how good the Jaguars are. I think they're probably as of right now, the best team. In the AFC, their defense is unbelievable. I mean, Trevor Lawrence, he's 19 and six with Liam Cohen. Like they are a tandem to be kind of reckoned with here. And we'll see what happens moving forward. Because I think, you know, Herbie mentioned it on the broadcast last night, like Anthony Campanile, their D coordinator, like he's going to be one of the bells of the ball when it comes to coaches getting hired next year. So maybe things will change, but I mean, what are we doing? What are we doing? Joey Fanano against this Jags team. I get it with that. Oh, but. I mean, come on, come on, man. We respected the Ravens organization too much. I think that was kind of what we did. We were like, you know, the Ravens aren't going to get smacked in the mouth. Three times in a row. quarterbacks they're not going to do that with three different quarterbacks there's no way the way they draft the players that they try to get into that building the toughness the mental toughness the physicality everything that the Ravens are that we know of I know it's the first year Jesse Minter and I know Harbaugh has gone to the Giants here and now he has them in the lead in the NFC so that might be a massive loss to a building just like Dallas moves on from McCarthy the Steelers are fucking you know and now everything's happening like that is crazy what a coach could potentially do but we had faith in the Ravens as a whole and we all thought there's no way on prime time in their own house in their own house they would let that happen that's tough for Minter trying to establish a culture AJ legit that's not good for your first year head coach having these uh types of things happen and then all the conversation around it about like well who's quarterback next year yeah Lamar Jackson's still on a contract it's not a real contract though it's like okay so we got a whole new turnover how long does that turnover cost because uh Ravens fans I don't think are the most patient bunch AJ no they obviously they've had a lot of success so they don't need to be patient they're not like a team that's been you know perennially perennially terrible if that's a word that's how we use that yeah I was trying to trying to figure that one out I was thinking of like how tone talks about the Browns like the Browns fans should be patient with what they've had in their past I think the Ravens when we think of the Ravens from the year I mean I'm old enough from the year 2000 on the Ravens play tough physical defense they're very intimidating team to play against they set the tone early and offensively they've usually been fun and they kind of find a way and being able to push the ball down the field especially with Lamar when he's out it's just a different world for this Ravens team obviously Derek Henry we knew they would focus on him first play the game they're playing Wildcat finiano's out there playing X receiver or whatever they're trying to like mix it up and get Derek Henry going but I mean there's only so much you can do and I think ultimately this this Jaguars team is legit top to bottom offense is playing great defense is very very good they're very underrated I think and last night we yeah their defense you're talking about underrated but statistically they're ranked yes right where it looked like they should be don't you think I mean underrated as in people don't talk about them like they should because they don't have to yeah the names I guess that people would know their everyday names I was not trying to battle you there I was just saying like statistically they are ranked right where they it appears where they should be you know like after watching last night and once again it goes back to like how do we think funiano but I think everybody and goes back to your point here about being underrated it's like I guess everybody just needs to see it in the playoffs like the national like last night I assume open some eyes but then they're like well finiano and the guy food on his right well you know like there will be people that will make excuses not to believe what this Jaguars team is and maybe we're even kind of a part of it because yeah we've seen the song and dance from Jacksonville before but it's like over the last 16 were they 14 and two or something yeah Jaguars record 14 and two over the last 16 games it's like any other team was 14 and two over the last 16 regular season games I think we'd be talking about them in a crazy way and I believe it was Orlovsky uh who said it feels like tonight could be like a Chicago Bears night for the Jacksonville Jaguars where they say hey we are the best team in the AFC just like the Bears seemingly on Monday Night Football said hey we are the best team in the NFC people could say that is now Packers fans aren't gonna agree with that I see you kind of giving a face there we're talking about the Bears you said the last time that I said great team they're a great team right now we are talking about the Bears but yes it is that was a dominant win in terrible conditions man everybody's gonna talk about the terrible conditions for the Ravens and them not having a quarterback is certainly much more uh worse conditions than another team could have with their starting quarterback but the weather was shit the rain was shit we needed Trevor Lawrence to throw two touchdowns okay okay thanks Trev uh and and then Justice Hill gets tackled what like a half yard short and then he loses yards it's like okay we get it all right we need to start hitting those if anybody has any ideas on how we can get these super boosts to start hitting we are open to them go ahead and tweet it directly to um who should receive I'll take them Mitt no no you gotta be able to read we are we are four and five though and with the boost and the boosting percentage it's actually a winning record on the year see tone that's why I don't think it should be sent to you because you just kind of flipped a losing record into a winning record which I do like for you on our side thank you I do like that you're on our side thank you but we definitely need to start actually winning tweet them to turn digs with a Z if you have any ideas we are looking to get some dubs these are long long weeks whenever we're not winning these we understand that because we've got a lot of people riding alongside of us and we have access to be able to boost these things so we're trying to win for all of us let's beat the hell out of DraftKings now let's do it responsibly right AJ obviously take care of it don't ruin it for everybody else yeah you can't be ruining it for everybody else all right we have some stories happening around the NFL as well that we certainly know about Bosa's back out there in San Francisco here we go okay that's a big deal for the San Francisco 49ers we know that the defense for Rahim and the Niners is a huge piece of the puzzle on why they are the odds on favor to win the Super Bowl banged up at a couple different positions including wide receiver Brock Purdy's been able to get the job done regardless Bosa is a jungle cat actually he's big he's strong he's fast he can only help a defense that just added DeForest Buckner back into the fold a couple days ago as well AJ your thoughts on Bosa being back and what that means down the stretch here for the Niners and will we see Bosa like how we all envision Bosa you know he's had a couple injuries he's had a couple delays and slow starts the seasons but in my head as soon as you say his name I think to myself that guy's wrecking the entire game is that what we should expect or are we at a different stage of career for old Bosa I think we should expect him to continue to be a game record because I guarantee you those offensive linemen that are lining up across from him are thinking the same thing hey this is Nick Bosa I better I better strap in for all 70 plays whatever it is today I can't take a break because this guy will be all over me so yeah I would expect him to be who we think he is and to think that DeForest Buckner is is there now too with Bosa coming back into the lineup yeah it's like the the rich get richer man like the the 49ers are already very good and now we have these guys getting healthy and and adding key elements man it's going to be uh it's going to be a fun November December January to watch this squad yeah so you got Bosa and Buckner back first time they've played together since the Super Bowl Bosa said in uh the interviews yesterday he said they can make a movie about this you know it's a story last time I played alongside him was in the Super Bowl they're looking to rerun that and that's the NFC West they got that duo happening there amongst others you know Fred and the boys are swarming all the time and then you go to Los Angeles Rams I don't know if you've seen us first photos have come out of the Avengers next to each other Aaron Donald Miles Garrett standing next to each other uh arthroscopic surgery on the knee for Miles Garrett he's come back Aaron Donald obviously returns to play for the Super Bowl he's coming back he's coming back he's coming back and Donald obviously returns to play for this Los Angeles Rams team after a couple years of retirement pictures coming out of practice I believe we're looking for right now uh them next to each other it feels like they might be getting healthy on the defensive side you know and you go uh you start looking at who they have who they don't have and who they got who they're playing against it's like I think the commanders are aligned not the best right yeah yeah no great this is not a bad time for these guys to come back if they were to do that but AJ we thought we were getting this all season long here we're entering week nine is there enough time left for these guys to be the absolute demolitions of chaos that we should expect and did expect coming into the year yeah I think there's plenty of time obviously though once this team gets into the playoffs that's when guys like this truly matter and can truly turn it on we would think about it we were saying Aaron Donald earlier before he signed we said why would he wait why doesn't he wait along maybe sign in October and go you know on a playoff push with the team but he he jumps on from early in the season and I think he's working his way into to feeling as good as he possibly can but these two together I think it's going to be a little shot in the arm as they say for this defensive for this team when they can play together and yeah I mean I I expect them these guys to wreak havoc now Miles Garrett I would well how do you think he's going to be early on it's going to take him a game or two to to kind of get into it or you think he jumps right off the screen I am a guy who watches uh social media videos and changes my entire uh feeling about somebody so I am always thinking the absolute best is always going to happen Aaron Donald when he came back I thought he was got five sacks first game that's what I thought because he's Aaron Donald it's taken him a little bit he has not been terrible like a lot of people have been trying to say but he hasn't been the takeover game just yet now will this help with Miles Garrett coming back uh yeah I would say both of these guys should help each other so in my head with how athletic and hard-working and discipline Miles Garrett is from what we know about him in his off season and what he's capable of doing what he looks like I would assume he attacked his rehab pretty pretty soundly I'm not sure if he's going to be able to do it but I think he's going to be able to do it I'm not sure if he's going to be able to do it but I think he's going to be able to do it but I think he's going to be able to do it pretty pretty soundly I assume and we should expect Miles Garrett to be Miles Garrett because when he was in Australia we knew he wasn't and it felt like we were kind of lied to a little bit I don't know if the Rams felt that way or not but I felt like I didn't know Miles Garrett was going to have to get surgery and it was pretty apparent there at the first week but now them coming back together this is what the dreams were made of speaking of dreams I don't know if you've heard this uh Micah Parsons back at practice another guy Schmidt good news Mike is back at practice uh this is something we thought may become week six in prime time it's happening before week nine what is the expectations here now uh yes fantastic news and expectations I think kind of kind of the same it's one of those things where the Packers defense has been such a pleasant surprise and they've been arguably the best part of their team through uh eight weeks here so you really don't need to rush him you know back and I think it's just hey defense needs to continue to do what they've been doing especially over the last like five weeks or so and then when you drop Micah back in whether it is that Wednesday night before Thanksgiving when they go to LA to play the Rams I expect him to uh to pick up right where he left off last year but just seeing him out there and kind of going through through the motions and everything. I think he just did individual stuff yesterday. But, yeah, very, very excited. And now you just, you know, let's kind of check the rest of the boxes off and let's get him back healthy and on the field. A little toxic table battle happening this weekend. Maybe Micah Parson's back. Is he playing? No. Okay, so when's he back? Next week? They said initially, so what, it would be the week of Thanksgiving, so not next week. And then I think they have, what is it, that's three weeks from now? Two weeks. Yeah, so week 12. Week 12. So we should have known that that was going to be the date all along as soon as it was broached that it might be week six. Would have been crazy to think about. Micah Parson's coming back to a great defense. Good news. Let's talk about the Packers defense without Micah. They're taking on Drake May. Hey, Tom Brady's going to be in the building too. Con man, how excited are you to get Tom Brady back in the building to watch this incredible game? Not as excited about Tom Brady, but very excited. No, what are you talking about? Who cares? He's your guy. What? No, he's the one. He's the one who brought you happiness as a kid. He's the owner of the Raiders. He's going to be in the building. He's going to be on a microphone in the building where you get a lot of good stuff. And I love Tom Brady on the mic. I think he's fantastic, especially from where he started, but I don't give a shit. I care about Drake May being the player of the month last month with Pop Douglas, Efton Chisholm, Hunter Henry, and basically me at wide receiver. I mean, as much as it is cool that Tom's going to be there and Gronky's getting his number, and he's going to have the ring on, and Edelman and Jules, they're going to be there. That's awesome. But no, I'm more excited about the game. I mean, it stinks Mike is not playing. Would like to have him, but we also won't have A.J. Brown. We won't have Trevion Henderson. It's just another one of those games where Drake May is just going to have to put the entire team on his back, which he has done consistently. I mean, this is one of those games, we're talking about the Jags and the Bears having kind of their welcome to the front of the league type moment. I feel like for the Packers and the Patriots, it's going to be one of those games for them, and it's a 425 game of the week. I mean, I'm juiced up. Tom being there, whatever, but the game itself, it feels like this has game of the week, even though it's slated at 425. Of course, Fox game of the week, but game of the entire weekend for us. Okay, I like that Tom's going back up there. I also like how pissed off everybody is that Tom going back to Foxborough is a part of the storyline. I appreciate that. Yeah, of course. He's Tom Brady's greatest of all time. He's won a lot there. He's going back up there. Obviously, you know, he didn't finish his career there. He was a tip. He was a Buccaneer, but that's seemingly happening to a lot of different guys as the modern sports world continues to evolve. Gronk going in at halftime, I think, is a big deal. I love that. I think Gronk and Jules just announced weekday shows that they're doing. I really appreciate the guys who have accomplished a lot, AJ, being the ones talking about the sport. Now, that's coming from a guy who just punted. I don't love that, but anytime we can get guys that are incredible at what they do back invested in what they do, give them back, I love. So I enjoy the fact that Gronk is getting celebrated up there. I love that he and Jules are picking up more shows, and I love, yeah, I think the Gronk and Jules show is coming during the week. Cannot wait to see the boys and lads get after it. I appreciate them getting, you know, back in more, like picking up more shows. I like that. That's good for the sport to watch the greats from the past kind of chit-chat about that. I'll always feel that way. But Tom Brady going back and being able to relive the Gronk days, AJ, that guy was fucking unguardable. Dude, he always had huge games against the Colts. I think he got his arm broke against the Colts, and then he also, I think he drove Sergio Brown, Notre Dame guy, a lot has happened, but he drove Sergio Brown into the stadium, like he, off the field. Sergio Brown, I think, made a pro ball as a special teamer. I mean, he was a good player. Gronk, I think he recovered onside kick. I mean, he was, Gronk was everywhere all the time against everybody. I don't know how he was able to do it. He's so big. The story's coming out about him and Bill O'Brien talking about how Bill O'Brien gave him a play, and then later he said, what was the play I told you? And Gronk was like, I don't know, man. He's so hungover. He said, just give me the fucking ball, Billio. Okay? Make something happen. And it was unbelievable that that is seemingly what he always said he was like, because his football IQ and ability to get open was second to none. And with how big and tough and fast and athletic he was, none of it made sense with how smart he seemingly was on the football field about every part of the game. It's like, the guy was unstoppable. I don't know how many times you played against him, but I just watched him against the Colts so many times in prime time. It was like, what the, what is this thing? And it's like, there will never be another one, especially with the mindset. But I don't think there will be on the field either, dude. He was just a different animal. He was. And just watching the highlight just makes you smile. Like, he was so fun to watch. And if you could, we have no audio here, but I mean, I'm sure you, anyone can remember that was watching at the time when Gronk would have one of these plays where he's throwing four guys off him. He's jumping people. It's always finishing chaotic in the end zone. Like, the roar that would start from that crowd, especially if it was at home, was wild. And like, the momentum, I think, that people never, you can't really understand if you just watch back now, years later from these clips, what it would do, Conman, for you, like, as a Patriots fan, what did it feel like for you guys when these plays would happen? I mean, it was the best. And it was right away, too, because Gronk was a, you know, second round pick and you expect a lot of stuff. Excuse me, it was right away from the draft. From the, yeah. His family are up there as, meeting out as a, and some friends tell me, like, how funny it was to watch those guys and how excited he was to be drafted by the Patriots. Yeah, and Gronk told a story, actually, from that draft night where he was on stage dancing with all his family, doing the huddle and everything, and he actually got a call from Belichick in New England, like, all right, get off the stage. But, yeah, Gronk and Edelman, especially, both of them, you know, Gronk went to Tampa, too, and people forget about that because, you know, a lot of the hate gets directed toward Tom. But with Tom, it was more so, you know, the Super Bowl this past year where he says he doesn't have a dog in a fight and all that, and that's where, that's where people kind of get turned off by him. But Gronk and Jules, they have always kind of just been Foxborough and New England and represent, you know, with the Patriots, now they play football. But, yeah, I mean, Gronk's the greatest tight end of all time. We talk about a lot of different guys, but when it comes to blocking and, you know, the catching and running that we were just seeing, I mean, he was, half of our run game, if not more, all of it was ran off of Gronk's back. So, yeah, I love Gronk. He's one of the greatest Patriots of all time. Yeah, he's awesome. Pat, I know you got someone there that probably loved watching Gronk do his thing on the field as well, I think. Yeah, absolutely. A man who is no stranger to phenomenal football players making phenomenal football plays with high football IQ. The greatest college football coach of all time here at Notre Dame, Coach Saban. Yeah, Coach! Coach, this is the first time we've really had this wide shot. You, man who is synonymous with the sport of college football, I know you have immense amount of respect for the grounds in which we are walking on today. Notre Dame has been a trailblazer for college football, but also a mainstay for college football. For what, centuries? I don't know at this point. Just your thoughts being here at Notre Dame, and then, obviously, if you want to talk about the game a little bit, we'd love to hear that. Well, I think Notre Dame is a unique place. You know, special traditions here, great history of success in this program, a national sort of tradition in terms of people all over this country follow Notre Dame kind of like they do the Yankees. So, this is a special place, and I think this is a huge game. Obviously, playing the number one team in the country, at home, and I think that Notre Dame is kind of in a must-win situation because I think the, you know, college football playoffs kind of put them conveniently at number 11. So, conveniently means if they don't win, they may be on the outside looking in, not that they can't play their way back into it, but they don't have the strongest schedule to finish with, so they wouldn't have any quality wins, which was the big issue last year. But I like their team this year. I like their defense. I like Marcus. Freeman, the way he coaches the team, the way he's tried to prepare this team to be able to focus on the moment, not the outcome of what's going to happen in the game and get prepared to play well. You know, C.J. Carr obviously could be one of the best quarterbacks in the country, so this is going to be a hell of a game, but I also like Notre Dame in this one, especially with Malachi Toney being out. Yeah, so let's talk a little bit about the Malachi Toney story. Thank you for breaking down this Notre Dame team. We feel the same way about Coach Freeman and the squad that he has this year. Half the win. You said conveniently 11, and I think that was. Very convenient. Almost auspiciously convenient, but the game changes mightily here now without Malachi Toney. He is a guy who's obviously top three in the Heisman. He makes up a large percentage of the offense. He blocks downfield. He gets the ball in end rounds. He gets catches. He's outrageously everywhere, has been for them since he stepped foot onto their campus in Coral Gables, and when you look at the stats about what Ments is like with him on the field and without him on the field, they're vastly different. Now, Ments has only been there for this season, hasn't really experienced much life without Malachi Toney, and if you have Malachi Toney on the field, you should use him in abundance as well. What does this do to Miami? I'm very worried. I do not like this at all because of how special of a player I think we all think Malachi is. What is your message if you're Mario Cristobal, and how do you see them kind of combating the loss of maybe best football player in the country? Well, how does it affect the team, and how does the team respond to the disruption of losing a great player like Malachi Toney, who's probably one of the best leaders on the team as well? So who's going to step up? The rest of the team has to play better. They have to play better on defense. They have to run the ball better. Somebody else at receiver is going to have to step up because this guy's been such a big part of the offense, and the offense is really built around him. I mean, you mentioned all the things they do with him. Well, who can do those things? It may be a committee of guys that have to do those things, but somebody is going to have to step up to actually the production that they're going to lose without this guy. Someone's going to have to step up to replace that. But the other thing, Miami, to have to do to me is play better on defense. You know, the back end has been shaky in the last few games, and whether it's playing screens, tackling the secondary, getting off the field on third down, all those things, very important. Because Miami having success. That's a good one. I don't know if you're normally a Fiji water, a Voss water? Water is water. Nice. Well said, Coach. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. But on that point, you're talking about, everybody's talking about Malachi Toney, as they should. The defense, just against North Carolina, led up Billy Edwards' best day he's ever had in college football. Yeah, and it was 8-for-11 on third down, which they couldn't get off the field on third down, so they couldn't get any stops. And ultimately, the sack fumble is what was the difference in the game. So they're going to have to play better on defense. I know they've had some injuries in the back end, but they're going to have to play a lot better on defense if they're going to be able to get where they want to go, especially without the key guy on offense, Malachi Toney. Darren Mensah, quarterback, transferred in from, Duke, Duke won the ACC last year. People forget Miami last year had two losses in the ACC conference play. Didn't make it to the title game, were the last ones in. They get hot during the playoff run, make it all the way to the finals. Mark Fletcher, that running back, A.J., I just, in my head, A.J., from what we saw, boots on the ground with that field pass, I think I'm giving him the ball. Big and physical. Remember, we watched him from the, I remember seeing him in warm-ups, just thinking like, all right, whatever, give this dude the ball. And he ran so hard with great vision. So, yeah, I just think it's a matter of time before he kind of breaks out this year. Yeah, it's just, especially with Cristobal now, offensive lineman, he now knows what, this happened on Wednesday, right? Wednesday practice is when they found out that this was probably going to take place. So they had two days to kind of figure out what they got to do. Are they going to do a committee, try to replace what Malachi Toney let go? You would know better than me, I would assume, yes, they're going to try to do some of their good shit. But if you have two days and you know, and you can tell your offensive line and this guy, like, hey, it's on. It's on you. Like, that is an interesting dynamic that could become this Miami identity with the loss of Superstar. Am I wrong in thinking that or no? No, I think you're exactly right to my point of everybody else is going to have to play better. They're going to have to run the ball better. And they've got the players to do that. They've got good running backs. I don't think their offensive line is quite as physical as they were a year ago. Got it. But they're good enough. And this guy, I mean, people get tired of tackling guys like that guy. Yeah. I mean, I coached defensive players for 50 years. And when you've got a big team, a big back like this, and he's hard to bring down, and he's powerful, and he's willing to put his pads down and run over your ass, people get tired of tackling a guy like that. And that's what happened last year. And that may happen now toward the end of this season because he should become a bigger focal point with this offense. I think so. And, you know, they've got good coaches down there in Miami. Okay? They've got good coaches. They've got to figure it out. Definitely a devastating blow, losing your best offensive weapon, though, Malachi Toney. Positive vibes down there as he gets the tightrope surgery, which A.J. I don't – we – have you thought about the history of the tightrope surgery and when the hell we learned about what this is? It was – I think it was – Two of them. Yeah. So I assume Coach knows a lot about that. Did you create this sprained ankle? Yeah. Like, did you dream it up one night? You and Dr. Rosen were just sitting there in front of a dry race board and, like, what if these sprained ankles didn't have to linger for 10 weeks and we could just do a quick recovery surgery? Like, literally, where did it come from? Because that changes a lot, I think. Well, we had a great medical staff. Dr. Andrews and Dr. Kane were our medical staff. Out of Birmingham. And they do a lot of stuff for NFL guys, you know, through the years. But they came up with this procedure. At least they were the ones that, you know, told me about it. You know, a high ankle sprain is the two bones where they come together in your ankle are tied together with the ligament, and those bones separate when you have a high ankle sprain. So they just said, okay, we'll just wire them together so we don't need the ligament. Take a couple weeks to fix it, but it won't take six weeks to come back so that you can play. So for skilled guys, probably more like, four weeks. But, you know, we had Cam Robinson, who was a great left tackle for us, got a high ankle at Tennessee. We had a bye week. He played at LSU two weeks later and played well. So this is a – So, yeah, it worked. It worked. Yeah, yeah, I would say. And we used it over and over and over with high ankle sprains, which is a tough injury to rehab from if you don't have this surgery. Yeah, and also, it lingers. Just like hamstrings. Like, sprained ankles used to – guys were at like 70%, 75%, like 60%. And every time they play, it only gets worse and it gets worse. So whenever the tightrope surgery became a thing, it was literally like, of course, Saban just created something new, just to beat football. Because sprained ankles have been taking out football forever. And then it just so happens to come from this little West Virginia coal miner's brain in operation down there, like everything else. And I told him this earlier. Another full of shit moment. No, no, yeah. I don't want to talk about other full of shit moments. I want to talk about magical moments. You remember this guy? He beat COVID in a day and a half. Do you remember that? Yeah, I do remember that. Congratulations, Coach. Yeah, Coach. I told him he inspired me. I came back positive, you know, for COVID. I'm like, Coach Saban? I mean, he's a little bit older, definitely in better shape than me. He beat this thing in 24, 22 hours. I forget what it was exactly. I mean, you – sprained ankles that we can defeat. COVID we can defeat. Every football team that you had to face off against, basically, you could – you're – hey, you're the man for the job. With COVID, though, you just had to keep taking the test until it came up. Take it. All right. Coach. Oh, Coach. That is not – Well said, Coach. We don't – yeah, I mean, who doesn't? I mean, if it says negative, then you're good. You can go back in, right? I mean, maybe sometime we'll find out what all was that, you know? Yeah, what was that? What all of it was. We'll figure it out one day, but I'm happy that's what you did. You took 45 tests that night. Hey, we just did 45. You know them, Mr. Terry. Keep them coming. I need a negative on here. We've got a big game this weekend, and then go ahead and let's take a poke. Take a picture. Post this. It's negative. That's me, Coach Saban. Well, you're an animal, but also you were a guy that I think strived to make things better and figure things out always, always trying to figure out how to get better, and literally tightrope surgery has now changed sports, and we're going to see it here with Malachi Toney and this Miami team if they're able to continue. Okay, AJ has a question for you, Coach. Yeah, Coach. This is more of a – I guess you've been lucky enough to have this situation. You've had four Heisman Trophy winners. When you were a head coach, I think you're the only one to ever have a QB receiver and running back when it did three different positions. What's it like coaching, especially this time of the year, when you do have a guy that is – we're very open and honest that you want your guys to win the Heisman, but you want to win the games. How do you kind of balance that when you have a guy on your team that is going for that Heisman Trophy and you don't want to force it, you don't want to try to like overdo it, but you obviously want him to win? Yeah, but I think the most important thing in this is if you win, if your team wins, that gives everybody a better chance to get accolades, and it's no different with the Heisman Trophy. So because you're going to play in bigger games, you're going to get more exposure. And my focus with our players was always it's all about playing good. I mean, if you go out there and execute and play well, don't force plays. Don't try to do something to take plays that aren't there, especially a quarterback. Running back, just do what you've always done. That's what's got you to this point at this time. So how do you prepare? How do you practice every week? How do you get ready to play? Because playing well – Playing well is the most important thing. And what you did in the past is not going to impact what happens in the future, so you've got to still focus on what's in front of you each and every day. So be where your feet are. You guys have heard that one before, is what I used to try to tell guys. And I said, don't think about that. That's an outcome-oriented thing. Let's think of what we've got to do for you to play well, have success in this game, and for this team to have success because that will enhance your chances of having a chance to get recognized. Okay, so that's actually a really – That's a really good conversation piece because I think like at Alabama, guys that are up for these types of awards and conversation – and AJ, I think you would – I don't know if you were up for any awards or won any awards. I assume you did with your collegiate career. But like Pat White and Steve Slayton, when they were potentially up for the Heisman, it was like there was nobody really to call, you know, like, hey, we are – we got two guys that are potentially up for the – like I think having an established culture that is used to having these types of awards and these types of things is a huge advantage. Like Gio Lopez right now down at Wake Forest, shout out to him and what they're doing at Wake and the guy who impersonates you perfectly is now their offensive coordinator. Yeah, I love all of that. But it's like whenever it starts getting really loud, like Pat White was such a mature person and Steve was as well, but it was like a lot just getting thrown at brand-new places that wasn't really the norm. So I think having somebody to lean on is a big deal, which you had – you had Heisman people everywhere. You had so many accolades. I think being in there is a big deal. Just my takeaway from the – But to your point about the guys that you talked about at West Virginia, those guys are great competitors and, you know, we had a lot of great competitors and they can always rise up to the next challenge. Even if they had success in the past, they always rise up to the next challenge. And I think that's what makes them great and that's what makes them the kind – they're great athletes, but they can do it with consistency because they always are up for the next challenge. Ray Guy wouldn't give me his award. Rest in peace to Ray Guy. All favor. I should have won. I mean, we shouldn't have been the three finalists down there. Like, he picked the wrong three finalists, if that makes sense. But out of the three finalists, I definitely – I mean, I was going down there. A.Q. Shipley won the big fat center of the year award the night before. He wouldn't even do it during the show. We went out and celebrated him pretty good. You know, last one's back, I think, to the hotel, which might have changed everything. I'm not 100% sure. And then I walk in there, mom and dad in a full song and dance clown costume suits, You know, we did the whole thing. You sit there for fucking three hours, didn't win a thing. Felt like the Emmys. Guy didn't even register enough punts, gets in there. And I said to myself, I wouldn't have been, if I would have won, I wouldn't have been able to handle it anyways. I would have been the biggest asshole of all time. I would have got so much worse. I would have celebrated. So it was a big moment. But I do think these national accolades for the players are good for the program. Right. But it can also change a lot of things. You've got a lot of eyes on people all of a sudden, especially in this NIL era. Now, a team that is no stranger to success, but are they going to be able to get in a dance? Maybe. Ty has a question about Iowa with a massive weekend and also a conversation about the entire Big Ten and how people are talking about the depth right now. Yeah, Coach, do you think that a team, I mean, you know, Northwestern for a lot of the season, you know, people were kind of saying, hey, this is one of these upstart teams in the Big Ten. They lose last week. And that conversation has kind of cooled down. Do you view this weekend's game between a team like Iowa, who was 19 in the committee's first poll, and Northwestern? Is that kind of like a playoff game, maybe like a quasi-playoff game, playoff eliminator? And then as a whole, even though the Big Ten had, I think, seven teams right now in the Big Ten have two losses, it seems like the conversation going into the year has changed big time. And now it's just kind of UCLA, Indiana, and then I guess Ohio State a little bit. But do you think the committee overall just doesn't view the Big Ten as very strong this year? And maybe that's why having seven teams with two losses, doesn't carry the same weight as like a conference like the SEC? Yeah, well, you know, I think the inconsistency in performance we've seen across the board in college football, I think, you know, the sort of competitive desire for consistency is not what it's been in the past in some cases. I think self-preservation might be up a little bit, which might affect this whole thing as well. But I think at the same time, all these teams that are ranked past 11, even if they have two losses, if they can win out, they're going to be 10 and two, and they're going to be a part of the conversation. I think in the Big Ten, I think in the SEC, there may be even a three loss team that's had some quality wins playing at a tough conference with a tough schedule that may be in the conversation. So I think who out of those next teams, you know, like somebody told me last year, last week, Miami was 18th or something, you know, last year, and they end up just barely getting into playoffs. And then they're one of the teams that's hot at the end, get all the way to the finals, have a chance to win a national championship. So I think that can happen again. You know, USC might be able to do it. Texas Tech might be able to do it. I mean, there's a lot of teams wait for us. Nobody talks about them. They have a pretty easy schedule of some kind of way. They could win the ACC and get in there. So there's a lot to play. But I think all those teams, to your point, that are 11 and beyond, they are in the playoffs. They cannot, cannot afford not to win every game that they play. And that's the case with Iowa and other teams in the Big Ten. Yeah. And UCLA, I think people are still struggling to believe that they're UCLA. We look at their trenches, which I think does matter to this committee. It sounded like D'Antonio, Randall McDaniel, Wesley Walls, Gus Malzahn, all the football people that are in there are all like trenches guys. They're all trenches guys. And UCLA's got them. Yeah. And they're good on defense and they can run the ball. And they have a good back. And they've got a good offensive line. So everything's not on the quarterback, you know, like some of these teams. And I think that gives them the chance to be successful. Now, you can't argue the fact that they haven't beaten anybody that's ranked. But they're going to get into that toward the end of the season. And we'll see if they're really the kind of team that we think they can be because of the trenches. UCLA, known Big Ten school. Yeah, that's right. Just old school. Staple. Big Ten staple up there. That's right. How do you think? Not their M.O. Normally. No. So what do you think the conversation is about the Big Ten now versus at the beginning of the season? Because, yeah, I mean, Ty asked it and I thought it was a little bit of a layup for you, you know, because you get a chance to talk about, oh, it's not easy just being at the top. Is it all the time? Whenever there's actual depth and maybe you beat up on each other a little bit more, which is kind of what the people from the South have been screaming for the last couple of years, whenever it takes place. What do you think is the state? You said the competitive desire seemingly done. And then, when the self-preservation is up, you think across the board, do you think that's in the big conferences? Do you think it's a big schools? And how do you think the Big Ten conversations happening now versus, or why is it happening like this? Well, I think that expectation goes up because the Big Ten won three championships in a row. Now you can win three championships in a row with one good team. If you have an outstanding team, right? All right. So, but I think there was some depth in the Big Ten, I think, and they had very, very good teams. I think there's some other conferences that have a little more depth this year. Uh, like I looked at the SEC a week ago, and if you take all the one and two loss teams, there could be 10 more losses for those teams. So they're going to beat up on each other and somebody is going to get in because they finished strong and somebody is going to get knocked out because they didn't finish the way they should. So, and, uh, I think there's a little less depth in the Big Ten, but depth is one thing. Depth of your conference is one thing. Strength at the top is something completely different. So you can still have great strength at the top and win the championship, but not have great depth in your conference. I think the thing that depth, I like playing a hard schedule, and I think that made our team better. It made us play with more consistency. Uh, we prepared better. We had created better habits. And, um, I think it's helpful for you to get in the playoffs. If you have a more difficult schedule toward the end of the season and you succeed, that gives you an opportunity to show who you are. I like the, the thought, though, that there's going to be three lost teams that are definitely getting in, especially with the stat you just dropped about the 10 losses coming somewhere in there. People are going to be so pissed off. Maybe they'll come around to the 2014 playoff, you know, with how this year is looking with so many teams that could be good. And you're not avoiding the conversation of these teams aren't playing great every single week. That's right. You're just saying like, Hey, there's good teams seemingly in a lot deeper spots around conferences now more than ever. The Big Ten still thinks they got a couple up there. Don't you, Ty? Don't the Big Ten, we still got a couple up there? Oh yeah, without a doubt. You kidding me? I mean, I mean, Iowa could give anybody hell if they really wanted to. I agree. I agree. And if they somehow, you know, slicker their way into getting a home game cold at Kinnick in December, you kidding me? Look out. Oh man. If Iowa gets in, it's going to be because they can run the ball and play good defense. I agree who they are. That's Big Ten football. You're right. But that's how UCLA is winning too. They're playing good defense and running the ball. Yeah. That's what you got to do. You see that head on AJ Hawk? Yeah. You know where he played? It's back when they ran the ball. Yeah. Big Ten football. Mm-hmm. That guy, that guy threw that home plate looking face right there with that jawline that just comes down, you know, like a hit wrong as if it's a what was that? What's that statue? What's that? What's that thing that they have out there in the mountains? Stonehead, the Stonehedge thing or something else? You got the night at the museum thing. Yeah. No, no. It's not Mount Rushmore. No. There it is. Easter Island. No. No. No. No. It's a Native American. Yeah. It's like the Whispering Horse or something like that. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. It's out in South Dakota. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That thing. Sorry. You probably haven't seen it because we don't even know the name. I mean, we're trying. You don't think you can pick it up from the description we just gave you? I don't know how well he knows Native American monuments. You know, I don't know how much he knows. You don't even know this. Yeah. He looks exactly. There it is. There it is. Boom. What's that one? Oh, yeah. Who is that? What is that called? Crazy Horse? Yeah. Crazy Horse. That's Crazy Horse. That's AJ Hawk. I've been to a couple Crazy Horses. I see it. I do see it. Yeah, AJ. I see the similarities. Yeah, me too. Yeah. That's what he actually has, too. That stone head is actually what AJ Hawk has because he had to go through Big Ten football when he was at Ohio State. Big Ten football has always been Crazy Horse head running into people running the ball along. They moved that to Columbus, actually. That's it. Now it's Columbus. But let's don't overlook the importance. It's the importance of having a quarterback who can at least keep the team, the defensive team, honest because if you don't have that, and the team can load the box, and I know you guys have talked about the Ravens before and killing the coach and killing the team and all that, but Lamar Jackson is playing, that makes Derrick Henry better because the other team can't just focus on stopping Derrick Henry. But that happens. It happened to Ohio State last week. They lose their quarterback. The other team says, "Hey, we're just going to stop the run and see if the quarterback can beat us." That changes the whole complexion of the game, and I think you have to be able to overcome that and be able to be good enough and create enough balance, even though you're a good running team. I think the teams that have trouble, that just rely on passing the ball, that you're going to pass the ball for 360 yards to win the game, that's not always going to happen, and it's harder to be consistent. If you're a passer, you're a passer. You're a passing team. Less bad things can happen if you run the ball and have a good offensive line and can stop the run on defense, but you still got to have a quarterback that can make the defense play on us. Hey, that's actually a conversation happening in the NFL right now with the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati Bengals, this conversation is happening. It sounds like you're saying what a lot of us believe, but maybe the Bengals will be able to completely counter it. It's like you have to be able to run the ball to win, whenever the games matter, like playoff games, when you're playing the best teams. At some point, you're going to have to be able to eat a little clock. You're going to have to be able to run the ball to win. You're going to have to be able to control kind of time of possession. You're going to have to be able to control the game, slow the game down. Your defense off the field, like there's things you're going to have to be able to do with running the ball, and Cincinnati Bengals can't do it right now. Now, they might trade for a running back, but Joe Burrow can and has thrown for 400 yards a week, and Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins and everybody over there is eating at a crazy rate. It's like can they kind of be the counterpoint to all of that that we all believe? We don't know. We have no idea. That's literally TBD. Well, there's always exceptions to the rule, but I think one of the things that is even more important is teams that play well in the red zone usually play well because they can run the ball, and the other team can't play split safeties down there when the field shrinks. Then they've got to stop the run, and then that opens up the passing game. So the balance is always a good thing. The Bengals are pretty good, though. Joe Burrow is pretty good. I mean, he slapped 47 or 49 or something on us in Tuscaloosa, and this guy's really good, and Chase was playing on that team, too, and he's pretty good. Yeah, I'd say. They've been doing this for a long time to teams. We just wonder if you can do this whenever you're playing like the elite teams, which is down the stretch, and I guess it's kind of a lack of a gut sack kind of commentary because we'll never know the answer until months from now. So we can just kind of project it, but they're unbelievable, and they look like maybe they are a team that can do it. Okay, let's get back to college football, talking about a team that can maybe do it. Everybody has LSU kind of lurking. Connor has a question about a huge one this weekend. Yeah. Yeah, Coach, we know you don't give a shit about the Big Ten, and I can see you just getting sick over there talking about it. So I'll ask you about the SEC. You guys are putting my ass to sleep. That makes two of us. Coach, Bama going to Death Valley feels like a playoff game as well. We mentioned it earlier, but you've talked about LSU and that environment and how crazy it is in there, and Alabama, when they went to Tennessee, it was tough for them, and it felt like that was a big kind of learning experience for that team. What do you think that their preparation is like going up against LSU, and same with LSU as well with Lane Kiffin going up against Bama, and what do you expect out of this game? Because it does feel like, to your point about the quarterbacks, Keelan Russell's going to have to kind of put the team on his back to get over that hump in LSU. Well, I think the big thing with Keelan Russell is in the last couple weeks he's had more turnovers, got sacked more. Alabama is going to get the center back, which will, they'll get Ryan Coleman-Williams back, which will help. They get the nose guard back on defense, which will help. But this going to LSU and playing is you've got to have a special maturity as a team to be able to be, I mean, on top of your focus to go in there and be able to play, to overcome, you know, the noise, the circumstance, and LSU's got a very good team. So you're going to have to overcome a lot, and that's going to have to take a lot of maturity on their part. Now, they didn't show. They could do that at Tennessee, and to me, LSU is a little bit of a similar team in terms of they're going to play good defense, they're going to pressure the quarterback a lot, which Alabama's going to have to handle, and these guys can put points on the board even better than Tennessee. So this is going to be a big, big challenge for Alabama, and they've had a bye week. Hopefully they get some of these players back and get some of these issues fixed, and Keelan Russell can play with a little more consistency in terms of, you know, it's okay to punt. You know, I used to tell the quarterback all the time, if every drive ends with a kick, we're okay. Punt, field goal, extra point. But you don't have to try to make plays that aren't there and that turn into negative plays that just kill you in the game. Yeah, Coach, that one's going to be awesome. I wanted to ask you about Ole Miss and Georgia because it kind of feels like, you know, those awesome games that you had against Johnny Manziel. Trinidad has now faced Kirby two times. He scored 35 against him. They're 1-1 when Trinidad and Ole Miss goes against Georgia and Kirby. Now they're playing each other for the third time in a calendar year. Does that benefit a certain side when you have a great quarterback like that that can make plays but he's seen the defense, you know, two times already? Does that benefit him, or do you think it might benefit Georgia and Kirby seeing Trinidad twice already and maybe seeing what he does well and doesn't do well against their defense? Yeah, but what Trinidad does well is, I mean, this guy can make plays off schedule, which is hard to coach against. I mean, it's just hard to coach against. I mean, and, you know, the way Georgia plays defense is they play a lot like we played, a lot of match coverage, a lot of guys get their back turned chasing people, and when you're playing against an athletic quarterback who can take off running, that becomes a bit of an issue. And, you know, Trinidad has been able to do that to extend plays, to make explosive plays passing as well as, and I think that's one of the reasons why he's been able to do that. And I think that's one of the reasons why he's been able to do that. But I think the key for Georgia in this game is, can you take advantage of Ole Miss' defense? Can you control the ball, keep the ball, run the ball, shrink the game so the guy's on the bench? He can't beat your ass when he's on the bench. So you've got to keep the ball away from him by playing great on offense and take advantage of, you know, some of the issues Ole Miss has had on defense, whether it's stopping the run, staying ahead of the sticks, and that kind of thing. So that's my opinion. Now, I do think, George, Georgia is very well coached on defense. I think they're a good defensive team. I think they'll be ready for the no-huddle, fastball-type stuff. And I don't think Ole Miss is quite as good at the skill positions as they were a year ago. And, you know, the quarterback is the quarterback, but when you have great receivers and a great runner, that helps too. Excited to see what Gunnar Stockton shows up. He has all the capability in the world. It's kind of broken my heart the last couple weeks, I'm going to be honest. I thought he was a whole different quarterback this year. He might be able to return to that form. Hey, Gumpy, what is Kirby's record in Oxford, Mississippi? 0-2, never won. What? True story. Yeah, 2024 and then like 2018 maybe or something like that. It's a tough barn. A tough barn. They got that drone show up there. They got the lights. They got crazy. I mean, that place, not as many seats, but certainly as many booze bags it feels. They're going crazy over there. I like that place. We were there for that LSU game, and I don't know if that's what it's like all the time or not. It was awesome. It didn't have nearly as many seats as ever, everywhere else that we've kind of been and got a chance to experience, but that place was alive. In Trinidad, whenever he starts cooking, that's a tough place to play. Them at home is a different animal, I think, than anywhere else, and you talk about SEC home games being different or away games being different. It's like in Oxford, Kirby has struggled, it seems. 26-1 run they are on at home. Yeah, it's a tough place to play, I guess. No question about it, and to your point about Gunnar Stockton, the way he plays football, he's a great competitor, he's a great leader, but he can't turn the ball over. And when he's had issues against Auburn, they turned the ball over three times and it cost him the game. You like Gunnar, though. You're a really big fan of Gunnar. You're a tough son of a bitch. I like Gunnar. I mean, I like great competitors. Yeah, you just like the SEC. He's a great competitor. You know, you can say there's other guys that might throw the ball down the field better and all that, but he's a great competitor. I know that his team loves him, and that's important. That's important to being successful. Yeah, I think there's been a couple decisions that have been made where, allegedly, I mean, I'm not in the room where it happens. You might have actually been in there, where, you know, Gunnar was chosen over some people that were maybe thinking about coming to Georgia to play that particular position. It's like, no, Gunnar's our guy. I think locker room did that. I think everybody kind of did that. And to Gunnar's point, the reason why you love him is because he's from Georgia, and he's in the South, and he's the SEC quarterback. Ain't that right, Gunnar? Coach, you can do this whole song and dance, but we know you don't give a shit about anything but SEC football. And also, to your point about Gunnar, Gunnar's talked in. He drives a cool 1970s Ford truck. That is awesome. Which Coach Saban might really like. Yeah. That might be another thing you really like. I mean, let's be honest, guys. I mean, what's better than the SEC? You guys want to, you know, kind of. Just the NFL, Big Ten. Okay, what about Big Ten has three different national champions in the last three years? That means they had a good team at the top. That's all. I'm talking about top to bottom, depth of the conference, tough places to play, great competition week in and week out. What about the Big Ten's record against the SEC in bowl games, Coach? Bowl games. Bowl games mean nothing. Players don't want to play in bowl games. The male bowl. Coaches don't want to coach in bowl games. Nobody goes to bowl games anymore. And you want to play something on bowl games? Coach! Tell you what, right before Army-Navy, Coach, we're going to play Rutgers and Arkansas, and we're going to settle this. We're going to learn. And Arkansas has got a Shiano Piano coming right down the pipe. Now we're taking the two teams at the bottom of both leagues and comparing them. Exactly. And then what do you want to do? No, I want to know how many really good teams do you have before you get to the shit? I like it. I like it. We'll find out. I guess that's what college football playoffs is all about. Yeah, it is. And it's exciting this year. There's a lot of teams still got a lot of ball to play and have an opportunity to get to the top. Yeah, it's funny. Alabama's ranked so high with two losses already. It's almost like they're saying you lose LSU, you still got a chance to dazzle. They'll get in with five losses, I think, this year. Yeah, if Saban has it his way. He's not in the room. To be clear, he does not have an actual vote. He probably knows everybody in the room. You brought this up. 2014 playoff. Will we be having this conversation about the importance of the rest of the season? The games this week, the big games this week, The big games that are going be coming up from now till the end of the season if we had a 2014 playoff? We're going to be talking about that? We're going to find out next year. Would these games be as important? Because these are playoff games for a lot of these teams. You're right, Coach. I was saying we would talk about it in a different way. We'd have to talk about it for home field advantage and stuff like that. Yeah, ranking and seeding. More teams in the Big Ten we'd get in on. Okay, that's what it's all about. We knew it. We could get to the bottom. Look, I coached in the Big Ten for a long time. I'm not anti-Big Ten. I think the Big Ten is a great league. I don't want you to say that. Don't lie. Don't lie. We watched the doc. You hated it. Don't lie. No, just the ending and how cold it was. Alright, we appreciate the hell out of you. Thanks, man. Appreciate you. Love being on with the boys. Love having you. Hey, great work on New Heights. Happy you did that. We love the Kelseys actually, so I'm pumped you did that. What are your thoughts on them? Those are two goats, by the way. You three are goats. And on the screen there for football, so we appreciate you doing that. Well, that goes back to my doing that because of my respect for great competitors and those two guys are great competitors and I enjoy doing it, even though I don't do podcasts at all. This is kind of a podcast, though, that you're kind of doing here, but on that note. No, but that's different. Okay, yeah. You and I. Yeah, we are, aren't we? Partners in crime. My guy! I appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen. The greatest of all time, Coach Saban. Thank you, Coach. Tone, I know I'll give the boys some time to pull up that slate for all the games going on this Saturday. We have a huge slate of games, obviously. You guys are so quick right there. Tone, which one sticks out at you right there if you look at those games that you are most interested in watching? I think it's Georgia and Ole Miss for me. Georgia isn't the number two team in the country, according to the CFP, with that huge win over Alabama, but they haven't looked great the last few weeks, and then Ole Miss, at home with Trinidad, can they go on a similar run to what they did in the playoffs last year? I think this is a huge one, because I think if Ole Miss wins, like I said earlier, I think they are in the playoff with their remaining schedule. Who's going to win Alabama-LSU? I like the Tigers. Do you? Yeah, home field. At home? Levitt's playing really good. They're both coming off of buys. I trust LSU's defense better under Blake Baker at home. What's Tennessee going to do against Kentucky? They're going to try to run the shit out of the ball and play defense, but Kentucky's the darlings of the SEC. I believe they're going for seven straight, wins, and maybe their sixth upset win, if I'm correct on that one. Yeah, they're pretty good. Pat, I know Coach Saban, he's getting upset at some of the Big Ten SEC comparisons. Obviously, we know where he lies, but yeah, what do you think he's thinking about this slate of games? I think we're all very excited about separation Saturday. Hell yeah! Yeah, I think we're all very excited, and to his point, all of these games every single weekend are going to be of vast importance, because there's only 12 spots, and there's so much parity, seemingly, with records and teams, and who's better than who? You can only project if you're not actually on a football field, and then projections don't take into account the ability for a team to upset another team. So, you know, whenever people say, like, well, the sportsbooks would have this team favored in every game, it's like, yeah, I mean, the favorites always win. You know, that's how betting goes. You know, that is not how it goes. So, you're never going to get it right, ever. You just have to kind of prove that you are supposed to be there with massive wins, and there's a chance for a lot of teams to get one of those this weekend, next weekend, the weekend ahead, and it's like college football really, really cooking. And then the NFL, I mean, the boys are chit-chatting. If the Browns lose with Shador Sanders starting at quarterback, the AFC's basically figured out. You know, now the Colts can go 11-6. Well, still all in front of them, you're right. Yeah, certainly. We don't have them on the lurking thing right there, but it's like, the AFC's pretty much sorted, if we had to really place it at this point. Now, might be a surprise. Raiders could get crazy hot. I believe in the Raiders and the roster that they have. The NFC is really starting to become what we're going to have to keep an eye on every single weekend, AJ. Yeah, I think it is. What is it, Tone? So, like, the AFC, honestly, though, is it bad for the AFC, thinking like, hey, these guys have no hope? Like, their season's over with six, seven weeks to go, if it does clear up like we think it might? I don't know. It's crazy, because, like, you know, you look at the divisions, and the East has the two teams at the top there. They're good there. The North right now, if the Browns lose, they have the two teams at the top. Same with the West, and then the South has the Jags who have a three-game lead. And if the Browns lose, and they're kind of, like, they would have to go on a run, a crazy run to get back in the playoff picture. And then the NFC is what we're going to have to watch. Yeah, and the NFC is just loading pass rushers. Yes. You know? Just loading them in. Buckner and Bosa, yup. Miles Garrett for the Rams, yup. Jeffrey Simmons, yup. It's like everybody in the NFC side is gearing up for the long haul here. And the Colts and other teams in the AFC are gearing up for the next decade, hopefully! We're back on the other side. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. Might change their life. Jen Latta here. Somewhere in a run, things get fun. You stop counting. You stop trying. You're just here. Weightless. Wide open. More alive than you've been all day. That's the run doing what it does. Clearing the noise. Loosening the grip the day had on you. Reminding you what your body's capable of when you finally let it go there. And now that feeling fits wherever you need it to. The new Peloton TreadFlex is designed to fit your life. Movable and foldable, so you can run, walk, or hike when you need to, and roll it away when you don't. With instructors worth showing up for, and workouts that meet you where you are, you've got the freedom to move on your own terms. That's what running gives back. Let yourself run. Explore TreadFlex at OnePeloton.com Every game, every practice, every moment. We rely on energy more than we realize. From the courts and fields we play on, to the gear athletes use, to the technology and transportation that bring fans together. Energy powers it all, and energy transfer helps safely deliver the energy that keeps it all moving. Oil and natural gas help make thousands of everyday products possible, supporting sports and the moments that connect us. So whether you're playing, watching, or cheering it on, it takes energy. Visit ItTakesEnergy.com to learn more. It is the greatest. I am in the state of Indiana. The boys are in the Thunderdome. I'm up here at Notre Dame. That's A.J. Hawk. He also has the toxic table back there at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt. Con man, congrats to us on falling for the Fagano trap last night. And I would do it a hundred times over. I still support Joey Fanano, even though there's a chance he has one leg, one ankle, and he might never play an NFL game again. I still believe in Joey Fanano. We'd like to say to Joey Fanano, it sucks that that was your opportunity. Broken ankle, seemingly. I don't know what the hell is wrong with it, but it's got to be something heavy. That looks like he's got post-surgery stuff around. You might as well put an air cast on this guy. Maybe a walking boot on this guy. I have no idea what happened to him, but I appreciate him toughing it out, saying, this is my opportunity. I like that he was an undrafted free agent, came in during a workout. I like that he earned his way to become the emergency quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. I like what he did at UConn. I like he's 6'3", 250. I like all of that. I like he's a paisano. I thought to myself, this might be a dream-come-true story here for a UConn QB. Kurt Warner. We could be watching the next Kurt Warner story. That was not the case at all. Guy couldn't move. Had no idea. He was taking on a defense out of Duval that was just absolutely dominant to everybody that they played against. They beat everybody by all the points. Other teams can't score on them, and their offense scores all the time. Liam Cohen has to start getting into the conversation of being a super genius and Campanelli on the defensive side as well. They don't get talked about. They know that they don't get talked about. They don't love that they don't get talked about, but they utilize it as motivation. They get an entire locker room that's just a bunch of dogs and Liam Cohen might be one of the best leaders of men that we have in the entire league. To turn a culture from shite to absolute unstoppable is something that should be talked about more, so I like that Liam Cohen feels disrespected. I like that the Jags feel disrespected, and last night in primetime, they had a chance to do what they've been doing over the last 16 games, and they just pounded them. I mean, it was just an absolute drumming. I saw Kyle Brandt yesterday on NFL Live basically say the Jacksonville Jaguars should kill the Baltimore Ravens. He went on for like two minutes. He's like, this should be an absolute murder scene. He said Trevor Lawrence should have his beautiful hair up on the nightcap show with Amazon afterwards. They should be talking about how they just killed the Baltimore Ravens. That's what should happen. Now, football doesn't always do that, but it was kind of how we all felt, and then we all started buying and believing that maybe a story would happen, or maybe home field advantage would happen, or maybe the Baltimore Ravens organization being very good for so long and having great players and a great culture and a great system you would see in behind closed doors there. So we kind of started just making up shit to not believe in this Jags team. I think everybody was kind of guilty of it, even a little bit, and it's like sportsbooks knew if that thing was 20, they would have covered it. I mean, it is an absurd run that this team is on, especially because they haven't had the most success in postseason, so everybody's still at that Indiana phase of watching them. Like, I don't know. I don't know. It's like, well, maybe they take care of business when they're supposed to, and that's normally a trait of the greats, and the Jacksonville Jaguars certainly might be that, AJ. Yeah, I think they definitely could be. But you're right. They're like where Indiana was, what, a year ago? Or, you know, at this point last year, yeah, we know you guys are really good. Go prove it in the playoffs, prove that you can make a run and do it all. Blake Bortles took them to the AFC Championship game. Oh, that was 2018, 17, 17. Since then, we haven't been talking about the Jags a whole lot, I feel like. Obviously, it's been up and down, roller coaster. Different coaches have been in there. But they take the ball away. They don't really turn the ball over too much. And they have four wins by 20-plus points. Like, that doesn't happen in the NFL. That's like what college teams do. That's what NFL teams do not do that very often. Yeah, and the parody of the NFL is the conversation every single year. Remember, worst team gets the first pick, you know, so they're always good. It's all professional athletes. It's the way the game is kind of pieced together with the rules. Any team can always be in it. You can get hot now. We've seen 17, 20-point comebacks at a rapid rate in the NFL. No game is out of touch. And then you play the Jags, and it's like, nah, yeah. You ain't going to score any points to come back into this. Never. And then on the offensive side, the bonehead stuff that we potentially have seen from the Jacksonville Jaguars offense in the past, we don't see. It's like Parker Washington makes an incredible catch. Boom, boom, boom. In the past, with the way the Jags have kind of gone, you would think maybe that would pop up, and then somehow Kyle Hamilton would grab that, and it's going back the other way. Instead, Parker Washington at 21 miles an hour somehow, him calling four verts, hilarious. Runs a little bit of a slant because he wants to leverage on him there, I think. But Liam Cohen coming out and saying, yeah, Trevor Lawrence, knew they were running cover zero. We had a perfect play with four verts, and we just beat them. Yeah, I mean, that's just so lackadaisical the way he described what happened there, so confident in what happened. And also calling four verts, in that particular case, even though nobody cuts it off, I guess, because he was getting stacked. It's like, Liam Cohen's a beast, man. And Trevor Lawrence is. And they all, they're a problem. And if you're in the AFC South, you really have to wonder, like, who the hell's beating them in the next 20 years? You're just having your five years, two years. Next year, who's? I don't think it's Chuck Bunyan. They're preparing to beat them down the road because they know the Jags will be there, right? Oh, you're saying, like, when Liam Cohen's shit kind of runs out. I don't know if that's going to happen, or maybe when he chooses to step away or something. Yeah, because he'll have, like, a Madden, like, run down there. Eight years, win a Super Bowl, everybody want him on TV. Let me go do TV for a couple years, get paid 40 million a year, and then maybe come back later and coach again. Yeah, maybe. And Trevor Lawrence, I mean, there's a chance Trevor Lawrence wins, you know, a couple Super Bowls, not just AFC South, but four, five, six, seven Super Bowls here, and he decides to retire early, too. Colts are back seven, eight, nine years from now. That's no problem at all. Joining us now might be a guy. Who has more information on all of those things that would have to take place for the Colts to maybe have a chance here against this Jacksonville Jaguars team with how they're currently constructed and how young they are and how they play, like, disciplined dog football. They've been on the road. They played in 12 different stadiums. They could have all the excuses. They don't have any of the excuses, which tells you exactly about their culture. They have a quarterback. Ugh. Are they going to get the trade deadline? What do they need? Do they even need anything? We haven't even talked about the Jacksonville Jaguars trying to maybe upgrade at some sort of position, because that's how good they are. Joining us now is a man who might have a little bit more intel on that and all the other stories happening around the NFL. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Friday, so that means it's time for the weekly wrap-up with Rap Sheet and friends, us being the friends, he being Rap Sheet. Ladies and gentlemen, your rap boy. Hey, Rap Sheet. What's up? What's going on? Hey, cool little grin there in that photo. I mean, the best thing about that photo is the Lego tie clip. That's actually a baller move right there. That's a good one. That is a baller move. That is a baller move, dude. A lot of people are talking about that. Did you give yourself a couple pats on the back whenever you put that one on there and said, I'm killing it with this Lego tie clip? And then what about the pocket square there? Is that also a Lego? Because that thing looks pretty crisp. Yeah. Yeah, listen, I'm actually fundamentally opposed to pocket squares. I think they're really stupid, but our wardrobe person put it on me, and I don't argue with people like that who dress me, so I just said, okay, and now I wear it, and I think it's dumb, but they thought it looked good, so here we are. Listen, I'm a puppet. I got a Lego tie thing in there. That's the goalie, so we just kind of got to do what we got to do. Okay, let's do the weekly wrap-up with the incredibly well-dressed by somebody else, Rap Sheet and friends, us being the friends, he being Rap Sheet. We just watched the Jags last night. We have not said the Jags name one time as being buyers potentially at this trade deadline, even though they are certainly in a Super Bowl window, very obviously they are viewing it that way as well. Should we think of any moves for the Jags? Has that ever been in conversation, and how does everybody around the league view this team? It's 14-2 over the last 16 with multiple blowouts. It's happening seemingly on a regular basis. I mean, how does everyone view them? They think they are really, really good. I mean, they are really good. You know what I always think about? This is like so many years ago, but I remember I went down to Jaguars training camp when Urban Meyer was there his first year, and I watched Trevor Lawrence for an entire practice, and it was so rough, and I'm like, I don't understand how these guys are ever going to figure it out. And you know what I learned? Coaching matters. Coaching is pretty important. If you have a really good coach and good players, you're going to have good personnel. You can be a really good team. They are really good. As far as the trade deadline goes, I wouldn't be surprised if they were buyers. They have been sniffing around on defensive tackles, because I know obviously they lost Devon Hamilton, just like a big run stuffer, like really, really good. He's out for the season. I wouldn't be surprised to see them try to fill his void. Problem is, now that Deron Payne's on IR and out for the season, I don't know who's good. Good enough to be an addition for them, that'd be worth it, and who anyone would trade. Like, that's sort of the problem this year, is like, like, Grover Stewart's a great example, right? He's a really good player. That'd be someone the Jaguars would love to trade for. I don't know that the Colts would do it and help him. Well, we don't really know anything at this point on what the Colts couldn't do, which, let's get into the trade deadline conversation a little bit more, actually. It got heated over the last couple days. Ty has a question for you about the Colts and trading. Yeah. Rap Sheet, is there any truth to kind of the rumors that started to pop up that the Vikings might be interested in maybe kicking the tires on Dan Jones? Obviously, Carson Wentz is going to start Monday night, but that kind of started getting out there a little bit. Like, is there a chance that Dan Jones is going to get traded by the Colts before the deadline? I would never rule out anything. So, and, you know, I've, I mean, I've seen you guys talked about it. I've seen it talked about on some shows. Like, nothing would surprise me in this world, and I think if you're the Colts, and, like, I don't know what's going to happen this week. Let's say it goes out in place. Great. Maybe it causes everyone to reevaluate things, but, I mean, Shane Steichen was sitting at a press conference defending Daniel Jones as a starter. Sometimes that can be the beginning of when it, you know, goes the other way, and obviously for Minnesota, they have, you know, Carson Wentz starting this week. Like, I've seen all the sort of scuttlebutt. I just, for a team to trade a quarterback midseason, it almost never happens. Now, we did just see it with the Baltimore Ravens trading for Jacoby Brissett, who had gotten bent. So, like, I would, anyway, to answer your question, nothing would surprise me in this world ever. It makes a lot of sense. I just don't know if anything is going to actually happen. Okay, and $35 million, I believe, is what Daniel Jones' contract is next year, and then I don't think after that there's anything else to be owed. $35 million for a starting quarterback, especially one that knows Kevin O'Connell's offense and could potentially be good, could be a situation they might, like, from what I'm hearing from you. But Carson Wentz is getting a start tomorrow night. Hey. Hey, Carson Wentz has the opportunity to do something here pretty special for the Vikings team that only has one loss, right? Is this not a real situation here for Carson? It's a real situation. It really is. And when he has played, so, like, the week one, it was week one, right? Yeah, week one game, and he played just okay and then lit it up in the fourth quarter, and you're like, you know, that's one thing with Carson Wentz is, like, when he's played in this system, he's had moments of looking really, really good. Right? And, you know, injuries have sort of derailed him a little bit. But when he's played, he's been good. And so I would say for this situation, there are a lot of different ways it can go. I mean, what if Wentz goes out and plays great? Then if you're the Vikings, do you just go, okay? Like, or not, and then you have a couple other options to consider. I believe in Carson Wentz when he's playing good football. I would like that to be on the record. I'm very excited for Carson Wentz and Josh Allen to be facing faceoff. on Monday Night Football, especially one that we get to do a field pass for. So it is an honor to be on the field for a Carson Wentz experience, and maybe he plays great football in a system that he knows. And his – what did he say yesterday about Justin Jefferson rap? I don't know if you read his quote or not. I didn't. He actually said – Was it, I should throw it to Justin Jefferson all the time? Yeah, well, actually, here's exactly what it was. Yeah, I mean, just get him the rock. I mean, he's as good as I've been around. And so, you know, for him, the last couple weeks, maybe, you know, not getting it as much as he would maybe want, I get it. I'd be frustrated if I were him. I mean, he's as good as it gets at his position. And I look forward to just – you know, I want to get him the rock as much as anybody. So I look forward to trying to do that without forcing it. You know, we've got a bunch of talent on this offensive side of the ball. So my job is just to distribute it, and I'm confident he'll get his this week. Yeah, I'm confident he'll get his. Chuck it, brother. Justin Jefferson's down there. Justin Jefferson's probably pretty excited. That Carson Wentz is back in there. And then for Kyler Murray, as we finish the Minnesota Vikings quarterback situation, Kyler Murray has a sore hamstring, they think. I would say hamstring strain he has considered to be week to week. Did you report a grade? Was it grade one or two? Did you report on this one? My understanding is it's pretty minor, so probably grade one, which could be one to two weeks. But it's a thing. You know, I mean, and I think the – Definitely a thing, especially when you're not playing great yeah if yeah go ahead i'm sorry no i mean yeah yes that first of all yes but also like could go out and re-injure it and we've seen these injuries sort of linger forever and if he's not moving as he needs to be then he's like that sort of takes away his superpower so having him sit makes sense to me for a fully healthy carson wentz wearing what i can only imagine is an excellent hunting hat in that uh in that interview right there yeah we would assume that it is uh the season for things to be flying and dying or rotten on trees and dying you know carson wentz will certainly go get some food to feed his family that is how he believes if he can eat on that football field on monday night with kevin o'connell i think that's why it's such a topic of discussion because how good the team is they've only lost one game and they've had next to no production from justin jefferson who might be one of the best players in all of football so i uh i'm excited for carson once i'm excited for monday night now uh another position that the minnesota vikings have been tied to is potentially running back last night a name might have got projected into the trading block other than just jonathan taylor tone digs has a question for you yeah and i see you racking your brain there so maybe it hasn't been talked about but you know the ravens are now four and five um lamar's out snoop is out they did trade for jacoby so it doesn't feel like they're giving up on this season but is there a situation where teams are going to be snooping around for derrick henry since he only has one year left on his contract i feel like the ravens are more buyers than sellers like okay if if something makes sense for them then you know like the really good gms i think eric tecosta is one of them would really consider anything right like you know philadelphia eagles i would say the same thing like everyone's saying oh are they going to sell they're going to sell i could see them buy two for the right situation right but i think for the ravens they're too talented to give up on this season they're too talented to give up on this season they're too talented to give up on this season they are i mean i know the record's four and five they got brissette coming in that should keep them upright and like i have no idea what's going to happen but the nfl season's weird we've seen backup quarterbacks come in and light it up from time to time i just i don't i just don't think they want to sell and considering first year head coach with a lot of security and a really talented roster like i don't think i would sell either if i was them and the ravens upcoming schedule for the jacoby brissette era you got the chargers trying to find it carolina houston bi-week then tampa pittsburgh cleveland cincy pittsburgh down the stretch as you know the division games are going to tell the story at the end of the season i like that that's how the afc north is structured is that how everybody is is that how everybody is is that the schedule normally i think so yeah that's sort of the idea oh yeah divisional played down the stretch let's get some important ones at the end let's go ahead and get the colts taken on you know the jags tyrian big one is jonathan taylor is jonathan taylor gonna get traded yeah i don't know i know there's a lot of interest figure it out and i know that like there is a package of picks that would make the colts happy has anyone offered it yet i don't know i know the interest is significant and the offers are significant i just don't know that it's i mean obviously not i don't know it hasn't been enough yet because no deal has happened right so i expect him to go out and play this season and i don't know if he's going to be able to play this season this weekend and then you know as you get closer to the deadline you see what people really really would do like someone says all right here's my offer and that's it and then it's like well okay maybe i'll sweeten it a little bit like there are different ways um that this can happen i just they're open to it teams are interested generally that leads to a trade um so i'll probably lean that way but i think because he's under contract for a couple more years and because he's not old like he could also be someone that'd be part of the future yeah it could be a part of the future we're learning from the taylor family his wife has been documenting it all uh on social media they have no idea and they're saying mentally this is an interesting spot i mean it could it should be i mean it i'm not saying it should be it definitely would be though as somebody who is one of the premier players in the league has been one of the best players we have on our entire roster all the other best players that we have on our team have been sent away it's like in the running back era that we're in jonathan taylor feels like he should be worth a lot but will that negotiation ever happen with the indianapolis colts and how it's well two ones and a four for jeffrey simmons right the forest buckner got a four okay and the day it happened i don't know if it was you or shifty but one of you senior junior say that was a good deal for the colts yeah he was a forest buckner you know he's one of the good it's like is it yeah he's coming back from a neck he's a little bit older it's like yeah but he's playing the best football he's playing the best football he's playing the best football he's playing in a long time and whenever the colts have him we're good and they're like well the titans didn't want to move on from jeffrey you think we want to move on from the forest buckner no it's like a negotiation isn't it is a negotiation and it's like saying we can't get a one for jonathan taylor it's like well fucking work and figure out how to get a one and a couple ones out of this thing like that is the art of making deals happen you know and it's like the people that are making the deals happen for the colts i know it's i love the rsa family i love the rsa family i love pete ward who's still there he's been with the colts for a long time he's incredible what he does i like uh emerson i believe he's a contract guy he's a part of it all there's a lot of people that are part of that whole thing but every other team knows that dodds is gone like this guy's got no allegiances to anything you know it's like huh let's move away let's move away from that let's go to teams that matter in this particular nfl season huge one up in new england this weekend and there's a lot of question marks around if the patriots can do it or not against this packers team especially with who's available conman has a lot of questions around if the patriots can do it or not against yeah rap sheet aj brown missing another full week of practice feels like that knee injury is pretty serious is this like a miles garrett knee surgery cleanup type situation by chance and then also trevion henderson kind of breaking news this morning he was hospitalized with a neurological issue what is kind of the full story if you have any details obviously thoughts and prayers to trevion henderson but uh seemingly a very serious situation for him and then um packers and Patriots injury report just kind of as a whole i know they're both pretty extensive going into sunday uh okay so aj brown's been ruled out um so he is not going to play this week what uh the yeah um so i don't get the sense this is a miles garrett knee situation i get the sense it's more of kind of like what aj brown's dealt with the last couple years which you know sometimes like in these situations maybe knee swells maybe you have to drain it like more of a maintenance type thing than a knee injury situation so i don't get the sense this is a miles garrett knee situation surgery type thing no one has talked to me about ir so the hope is it's within those four games now he's missed a second um so we'll see where that goes but i don't get it it seems like something that they can manage they think they can manage the trevion henderson one i don't see an ir stint at least before the game like i don't see any moves before the game um it is it is an odd one um it is an odd one and i would say they still not by that i mean the doctor's not the patriots they still don't really know what caused it and that is a little scary and that probably will lead to some more tests and maybe you know just erring on the side of caution because anytime someone's hospitalized for neurological something you don't exactly know the cause it's like more tests make sure he's okay football's important but not that important right um so i think they're going to keep monitoring that one as far as the other uh the other injury stuff on the packers and patriots i would need a refresher injury report style um micah is what two three weeks out micah is probably two weeks out so next week gonna do full uh full team drills and then they got that weird buy which is not really a buy and then they play wednesday so seems to me to be on track for that wednesday uh thanksgiving eve game or you know everyone goes to the bar and sees the people that they haven't seen in a while and all the bars are really crowded and that game oh yeah good reference there you're talking about the high school league ads coming back you know just going ahead and tearing it down a little bit maybe micah's one of the best bar nights of the whole year i've heard yeah and i know i've heard booze bags really love it but booze bags love every night don't they just when more people join them it's certainly a little bit more of a celebration so congrats to you rap sheet on having a big time thanksgiving eve throughout the course of your life and that'll obviously continue it's part of your business micah parsons back bosa back with the forest buckner over there for the san francisco 49ers the nfc obviously loading up on uh defensive pass rush jeffrey simmons traded the chicago bears and let's go to los angeles rams you posted i believe right before you came on our program miles garrett uh coming back from arthur scropprick surgery of his knee he is uh trying to get back on the field against commanders this weekend commanders offensive line not great aaron donald healthy miles garrett healthy this can be the first time we see the avengers potentially here yeah this is a pretty pretty cool one and you know i would say rams commanders might not exactly be like the most exciting game of all time this now takes on to me increased importance because miles garrett is expected to be on the field barring any sort of setbacks practice this week sounds like it's gone really good um he has you know for sure kind of taken his time through this thing to make sure that when he is out there he is really feeling ready and like himself and it sounds like he is there so what do the rams look like when one of the best defensive players maybe the defensive player in football is out there like my guess is probably better probably better um i'm kind of excited to see it i know the rams are excited to see it and with all of the discussions of the rams injuries and you know Myles Garrett and all the guys who are missing, they are still in position to make the playoffs and make some real noise when they get in. And obviously, Myles Garrett being out there would go a long way toward that. Last question for you. Staying in the NFC West comes from AJ. Talk about an odd situation. Yeah, he's obviously talking about the Brandon Ayuk situation. The media has loved asking different players on the team, and Shanahan, like, what are you going to do if he shows up? What happened? Do we know what happened this morning? Did he show up? What's the prognosis here with Ayuk? So, wouldn't show up yet. I think the idea is to show up before 4 o'clock today. So, this is a weird one. Let's go through it a little bit. So, he is on the reserve left squad list. He's got to apply for reinstatement, which he has done as his agent, Drew Rosen, I was told, Schefter. The NFL has not accepted his reinstatement yet. Basically, they haven't reinstated him. Then there's the matter of what happens next. So, he owes. The NFL believes, as they told him in a letter, $13 million in a signing bonus. I think the number, if you ask the NFL PA, and his side would be less. Like, there are different ways to figure it out. This is the—I think Pelissero had the report last night during the game. This is the sort of argument. I was like, how much does he actually owe? And then, does he pay it? If he does pay it, okay. If he disputes the number, it goes to a grievance. If he decides not to pay it, it can be worse. And then, the likelihood is they get a two-week roster exemption. So, the 49ers don't actually have to do anything with him through the trade deadline to two weeks from now. That was a lot, I know. But, it's a long way of saying, like, this is complicated, and I don't think we're going to get a quick answer. Ian, it sounds like the boys don't like him. You know, it really feels like the boys don't like him. It sounds like that. I mean, George Kittle's answer was like, hey, this is for somebody else. Everybody is kind of pawned it off. Here's George Kittle talking about how you may be coming back in the building. Are you looking forward to seeing Brandon when he shows up to the facility tomorrow? Do you think he gets in the facility? Plead the fifth. Yeah, you can ask John or Kyle. Don't ask me. I'm a conspiracy guy. Is there a conspiracy? Plead the fifth. What do you think the conspiracy was? He wasn't in the court of law, so I appreciate him taking the fifth in a public setting. You know, just kind of carry the, I don't have to say anything. I'm allowed to just kind of defer. And with the fifth, Connor, what's the conspiracy? I know I'm not saying you're a conspiracy guy, but what would George Kittle be saying? The conspiracy is. Yes, he is. I'm assuming, Rapsha, do not speak for me, please. I'm assuming that he's saying like, hey, does his card work? Do the people at the front let him in? And also, who knows? Maybe that electrical substation acts up tomorrow. Kind of senses Brandon Ayoub coming in. Shocks him. I'm really not too sure what he means, but it does sound like there is. There's a bit of a riff between the team and Brandon Ayoub. Yeah, conspiracy or not, it does sound like there's been a lot of potential personal feelings offended by how this is all unfolding. AJ, I've never, I don't think I've seen anything like this. In Rosenhaus, he gets hired by Ayoub. Ayoub had gone quiet there for a few weeks, right? We hadn't heard from him in a while. He wanted out of San Francisco 49ers. Once again, we hope everything's okay with Brandon Ayoub. I assume that is a massive piece of this entire thing. We hope. Everybody kind of hopes that's the case. Then he was going to the Commanders because of his relationship with Jayden Daniels. Then he publicly buries the Commanders. The Commanders are like, yeah, right. We're not doing anything. He was 13. What are we? So then all avenues seemingly closed while he was still posting messages. And then he goes quiet. And then all of a sudden we hear he signs with Rosenhaus. And Rosenhaus goes like, hey, but we've got to right some wrongs here. So I think this is the first step maybe to get back on track. I don't know when the expectation would be for Ayoub to get back on a football field. This does feel like maybe he's gotten through some of the stuff that he was potentially going. Maybe if he steps back in that building. But it's going to be uncomfortable for all parties if you try to right some wrongs that got very loud publicly. Rap. Very loud. Yeah, I mean, I would say here are my questions. Does his card work? Like, I really wonder, like, are we going to get one of those videos like the Jamal Adams video where he comes in and he tries his card and he goes, he's like. I'm sure they're hanging around, right? The media's got to be waiting to try to find wherever they're. They're going in the front door. That's what I would do. Rosenhaus is going in the front door with Ayoub. Yeah. They're sitting in the lobby. They're getting called back for a meeting. Correct. That's what I think is happening here. The fob would be for, like, locker room and shit. Yeah, I think that ship sailed long, long time. I think he's walking in like a fan would or somebody has a meeting there. Is that what you're thinking, AJ? Yeah, for sure. And I think that it sounds like the players, the coaches in San Fran are like, hey, we don't want, we don't need any of this. We got a good thing going. We don't need this distraction. Like, let's just move on. I think Kyle even said, like, I haven't given it any thought, basically, of what that would happen. What's that? Odds on favorite to win a Super Bowl. Jawan Jennings didn't want to get traded back to San Francisco, so they are looking for wide receiver. Is that not what happened? No, that's what, I mean, that's basically what happened, yeah. It's not wrong. It's not wrong. I just, it's not wrong. It's fine. You sound like Mitt right now. You know, Mitt has, like, a microphone and, you know, he'll just start correcting because you did. You're not wrong, dude. That's not true. It's not true, dude. And then it turns out it is true, actually, bro. Sorry about that. Shouldn't have did that while you were talking. But shout out to Mitt. I appreciate Mitt stepping up and being put in a position he should not be in. He does a great job, which we appreciate him. Same with Bruce. But you gave a look as if that wasn't the truth. That wasn't, was that not the truth? It's just the description from Kyle Shanahan was sort of not like, well, he didn't want to be here. It was like, well, he likes the Vikings. He likes the system. He doesn't want to move. As opposed to, like, I don't want to be in San Fran. Like, I think he, it doesn't, it's all, it's all the same. But, I mean, I think the addition would have made sense. But it, you know, did not happen. So maybe Ayuk would make sense, too. He comes back, starts working back his $13 million. It's crazy to think about. I think it will never happen. But, like, he was very good. I mean. He was a very good football player when he played. It was a long time ago. Feels like a lot has happened since then. But if you owe $13 million, sometimes you got to go wash dishes at that restaurant to pay the bill, you know. He might have to go run some rounds out there. He might have to do this for the Niners to get it back. I'll be excited to see if they work it out. Bygones can be bygones, but a lot of respect needs to be earned back on both sides. I'll be excited to see if that happens. We appreciate you, Rep. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Junior. Thanks, guys. I'm sorry, Junior, Rep. Yay, Reggie! Ladies and gentlemen, I don't want to, like, get too excited, but we are joined by a man who has done something in the football world that nobody. Ladies and gentlemen, Heisman winner, Super Bowl MVP, Desmond Howard. How are you, Des? Good to see you, brother. Thanks for having me on the show. Can you hear the boys? I cannot hear the boys. No, I cannot. Okay, let me turn this up. Let me turn this up. Can you hear us now? I can hear you. You guys are perfect. Hey! What's going on, guys? How you guys doing? Okay, so thank you for stopping by. Absolutely. I know you're very busy throughout these Fridays normally, so getting you to stop by here, incredible. My pleasure. Let's talk about the story, though. You live in Coral Gables. You literally live just moments away from the Miami Hurricanes campus. Absolutely. And I don't want to give away too much if you don't want to give away too much, but learning of the Malachi Toney situation, it happened very quickly, I think, for those that were around the situation. It did, yeah. Can you just tell me a little bit about what you think and how you think they're going to respond to this type of news and how it affects them, obviously, tomorrow in a massive game? Yeah, I'll tell you what. So Tuesday, I was actually chopping it up with Mally, right? Chopping it up. I got a mutual friend, and I was supposed to interview him Wednesday, and he put us together, so I'm chopping it up. He was in great spirits, wonderful kid. I'll tell you this, after I chopped it up with him, I text my wife. Oh, man, I love this kid. I want to adopt him, right? For real. Like, just great, man. So I was excited. Then Wednesday comes, and I get a message from the segment producer. Hey, Malachi had a family emergency. He's not going to be available, but we're going to get Darian Minster, the quarterback. I'm like, okay, Minster's good. But now I've got to rework this interview in my head, how it's going to go. So now I'm at the football building Wednesday, and I'm supposed to talk to the offensive coordinator. Shannon Dawson. So I text Shannon, hey, you want somebody to bring me to your office? I'm here. He said, Desmond, something came up, but we can talk a little later. I'll give you a call. I was like, okay. At this time, though, I'm texting my wife. I'm like, hey, something, there's some BS going on around here. There's a lot of. Yeah, yeah. First, Malachi had a family emergency. Now the offensive coordinator said that he can't talk now, but we can talk later. And now I'm in this room, and I'm waiting to talk to Darian Minster. And I get a text, and the text comes from my son, Big Twin. And this is what the text said. Did Tony break his ankle? So I grabbed my phone, I called him, and I used his government name. Now, I don't know if you guys are aware of this, but in certain cultures, if you use the government name, that means things are very serious. Yeah, we need real answers now. Yeah, yeah. So I said, Damir, where did you get this information? So he goes on to tell me about his buddy who knows a friend who is affiliated with the program. I was like, my heart dropped, man. I was just like, I was floored. And then at the same time, I get a knock on the door. Hey, Desmond, Minster's ready for you. Let's go interview Minster. But can't talk about this. Can't talk about this, because I haven't got, you know, I can't confirm it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No one else has told me. But there's a lot. But there is. But then it started to explain the atmosphere that I was Then we know, oh, well, you know, he had a family emergency. Coach Dawson said, you know, he can't talk to you right now, but he can talk to you later. And went on with the interview. And then you look at Mensah and his body language, and you can tell he has something heavy on his mind. Yeah, it's crazy to think it's all happening in real time. Certainly a practice, you would never hope that for a Heisman favorite. But that's how hard Malachi goes. He practices so hard, anything could happen at any point. Now, obviously there was devastation and it felt like there was a lot of alarm, as there should be whenever you're a best player, especially heading into this weekend. What do you think they do? What do you think the adjustment is? How do you think they handle this type of adversity at this point? Because Cristobal, I think, is a guy who wants his team to be mentally tough. This would be a huge piece of adversity to battle just a couple days out. Pat, listen, we've been on teams where we've had guys who we absolutely love. And Malachi is a guy who they love this kid. I think they're going to go out and play very well. They're going to play hard. You look at Coach Cristobal and what he brings to a team. He brings toughness, physicality. They've adopted his attitude, his spirit. That's what they're going to bring. That's what they're going to bring tomorrow night against Notre Dame. And they're going to do it, obviously, with Malachi in the back of their minds. I mean, he was the heart and soul of this team. And they want to go out and make a statement against Notre Dame, go on the road, say we're going to do it for Malachi. I don't think Malachi is going to travel with the team. I don't think he'll be here physically, but I believe he'll be with them in spirit. And they want to come out and prove a point. So I expect to see the best version of the Miami Hurricanes tomorrow night. That they possibly can be, which I think will rely on some guys that we got to introduce. Yeah. Yeah. They're going to be introduced to in a big way during the playoffs. AJ has a question for you, Des. What's going on, Hawk? What's up, Des? He's talking about Mark Fletcher. He's obviously, we got to see him firsthand down in the end zone doing watch-alongs last year, field pass. Like, do you expect Mark Fletcher to get, you know, a big jump in his carries? And also, like, the run game in general, I would assume Miami wants to get going even more now. Yeah. Hawk, you know guys like Fletcher, man, they're like throwbacks. You know, they're like old school, want to roll up their sleeves and just run the ball right at you with physicality. They want to run the ball. They want to run the ball through your face. So they want to make Notre Dame prove that they can stop the running game. That's what I love about this team, though. They're more of a blue-collar team. Obviously, you have Malachi, but Malachi is a guy who's not only catching passes, but he's blocking like a tight end or something like that, too. So I say this to say I believe that their identity tomorrow is going to be smash mouth, win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and obviously definitely get Mark Fletcher going because it takes a lot of pressure. because it takes a lot of pressure off of their Heisman candidate, that man right there, the quarterback, Darian Mensah. If you can get the running game going, then it opens up the passing game and it puts Notre Dame's defense on their heels. Backs against the wall, it feels like, for Notre Dame. I don't know if the Malachi-Tony news is necessarily taking pressure off of Notre Dame. It's only amplifying it even more. What do you like about Notre Dame? C.J. Carr, whenever he's come on game day, we've loved his mentality. We love Marcus Freeman. What do you love about the Notre Dame team? What we love about Notre Dame is you look at their leader, C.J. Carr, at the quarterback position. He's very buttoned up, sound, not going to make a lot of mistakes, very efficient, keeps the offense ahead of the chain. See, he's a guy who's playing phenomenally right now. He's going to spread the ball around. But Notre Dame is going to want to run the ball, too. As talented as a passer as C.J. Carr is, you know, they're not going to come out here and think they're going to throw the ball all over the yard against this defense for the Hurricanes. They want to establish the run, too. And then, I mean, Marcus Freeman, man, he's a friend of the program. Yes, he is. I mean, great guy. He's the type of guy, and there are not many of them, who can actually make people who hate Notre Dame like Notre Dame. Now, he's made Notre Dame very likable, and this is a big game for him. I think it's a really big game. You know, obviously people are saying, well, is it a must-win? Is it a must-win? Personally, even with the news of Malachi Toney not playing, I think if Notre Dame plays a very tough game against the number one team in the country and they lose maybe by, you know, a field goal, something less than a touchdown, I think they'll still be okay. Because their resume still might look good, Pat. Listen, you're looking at a BYU team that they lost to on the road, right? Lost to them in Provo. They got the Holy War against Utah. See, if they get past the Utes. If BYU wins that, that's great for Notre Dame. If BYU wins that, 100%. And if they go on to win, like, the Big 12 championship, then you're looking at a resume that includes two losses, one to the number one team in the country in a close game, Miami, and then the second loss to the Big 12 champs, the BYU Cougars. So I just think looking at their resume that way, they may still be able to get in because there's a lot of carnage around them in all the other conferences, especially the SEC and the Big Ten. Okay, so let's head down to the SEC with a topic that is obviously, I would say, polarizing because of the name of the quarterback and the expectations down there. Ty has a question about what's going on in Austin, Texas, Desmond. Yeah, Des, somehow, I didn't believe this when I looked at it, but this weekend against Missouri is only Texas' second road game this year, if you don't count the Red River shootout. What do you think, like is this Texas' last stand kind of? Not just for Arch, I think a lot of the conversation has been, hey, if they don't make it to the playoffs or win, then he's going to transfer and potentially be somewhere else next year. And then same deal with Sark, what happens to him? And obviously they can't really look ahead, but they have LSU next week. What are your thoughts on Texas as we stand right now? Well, Ty, I love the sweatshirt. Go Pack Go. Appreciate that, brother. My man. Yes, sir. Yeah, well, a season ago I famously said that Sarkeesian would be coaching in the NFL in 2026. I may have been not wrong, but may have been a little too early. I think that it's a big game. It's a big game for Sarkeesian. It's a big game for Arch. I think people don't understand that they've kind of forgotten that Arch has been there. this is his fourth year there like four years in the same program which we all know that's unheard of nowadays with nil and the transfer portal and we're still seeing him make these mistakes that really have a scratch he has a scratch in our heads like why did he throw that ball why why did he put the ball there that interception stuff like that so i'm not sure if he's going to be there a year from now i think he may transfer if he's not if you know if he's not you know What guys would say draft eligible as far as going high up in the draft. If he doesn't like his draft status, then he'll probably come back to college football. I would assume that after four years with Sarkeesian, they would probably need to part ways. Now, I'm not sure how that's going to happen. Is Sark going to take an NFL job? Is he going to stay in Austin? And Arch is going to transfer? But I do not see these two together in the 2027 season. All right, let's talk about one of your favorite subjects, the Ohio State Buckeyes. They got an alien out there. Tony Diggs has a question for you, Des. Yeah, Des, I want to talk to you about Jeremiah Smith. His first game with Luke Fahey as the quarterback, he still had 10 catches, I think like 83 yards and a touchdown. So he's still produced out there. But as a wideout in this situation, when you have a backup quarterback and not Julian Sane, who you are used to, what's the process you think for him in getting comfortable with the true freshman quarterback? And you think they'll be okay moving forward? That's a great question. I think that for a veteran receiver like, you know, Jeremiah Smith, the first thing you want to do is make your quarterback as comfortable as possible. You should stay after practice, get some extra throws and catches in with him. If I was him, I would actually sit in meetings with him, try to break down film with him. You know, let him know, let him as me, as Fahey, let Fahey see what you see. Like, it may look like I'm covered here, but if you throw the ball in this spot, I'm good. Just make him comfortable as possible. You know, I was watching the game, and there was a play when Fahey was running towards the goal line late in the second half, and he was pointing. I don't know if you guys picked up on this, but he broke contain. He started to point, and he wanted Jeremiah to block the safety. And Jeremiah whiffed, and Fahey got hit. And I'm like, bro, you can't miss that block because you want to protect your freshman quarterback, and you want to make him as comfortable as possible. So it's not just catching the ball. I mean, everyone talks about, you know, how great of a receiver he is, and he's phenomenal when it comes to catching the ball and all that good stuff. But you also got to do the little things. You got to protect your quarterback and put him in a winning position as much as you possibly can, which includes blocking and things of that nature. So, you know, you don't want this guy to get hurt like Julian Sane did. Hey, they're saying the Big Ten not nearly as dominant as we thought going into the season. Yeah, yeah. Now, Ohio State have an injury at quarterback. Obviously, situation, we'll see if Fahey can continue to get better as a young freshman. Oregon having the year that they're having, even though I think some people are saying they're still alive with how everything's kind of ranked, and they're down in the 24s or 23 or something like that. And then we have to bring it up. Michigan's a heartbreaker, man. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, hey, brother. What do we think? What do we think about it? Whittingham's first year, so maybe your turnover put the culture in. What is the kind of the thoughts? What is the mindset of Michiganders, Wolverines? All of that stuff, all of the above. Michiganders. Yeah, what is the mindset of the Michiganders? All of those are appropriate. Well, first and foremost, there's huge disappointment. I mean, to be honest with you, when you play, it's not that you lose a game. It's kind of the way you look when you lose these games. And obviously in Iowa and Minnesota, those games were games where not only did they obviously didn't come up on top on the scoreboard, but visually that what they looked like was not what we are. but we are. accustomed to seeing a michigan team look like and when you get a guy like kyle whittingham the i guess the the the biggest thing that he's supposed to bring is discipline a disciplined team that's not going to beat themselves not going to get penalized and all of those things we haven't seen especially in those types of games so obviously they made a quarterback switch they're going with tommy carr um pulled out a squeaker against rutgers a big rivalry game tomorrow night against michigan state but normally a head coach he gets a grace period right and i think that's what he's experiencing right now a lot of heat was on his offensive coordinator not on kyle whittingham so there's a lot of blame going around it hasn't reached the head coach at this point first it was um bryce underwood it was all the quarterback but then they switched quarterbacks and tommy came in offense looked the same hey it's not the quarterback it's back the offensive coordinator and then they beat you ruckers and now that you know kind of cool things down but i'm expecting to see a team tomorrow night that's looked as um as good as we've seen them if not better against michigan state i got faith in whittingham do you okay i think we're also do you that's good okay you got faith that's good but the reason why i believe is because i do believe michigan from the top down very supportive of operation and program yeah so hopefully he's able to get guys in there hopefully he's able to do it and find a quarterback i'm with you i'm with you i mean i like kyle i i actually liked him a lot when he was at utah yeah so i and i think he's going to be able to put a better product on the field but we need to see it yeah we don't got time to wait for that you need to door dash that now okay you're the best ladies and gentlemen the man how many years how many years on game day again man it says oh five this is my 22nd season yes sir thank you thanks for having me appreciate you thank you for your service the ball you're the best appreciate you aj michigan's not a great spot but des always is and i don't know if you ever see how he's dressed best dressed guy i've seen in some time actually just walking around earth lucky to be your teammate on game day bro man appreciate you ladies and gentlemen desmond howard hey foxy i wanted to ask you a quick michigan michigan state you nervous about this like what's the spread on this game i'm not nervous at all actually bruce brown just told me we are plus 13 and a half at the big house night game michigan state has had an underwhelming season under pat fischeld his first season but tomorrow since we're bad this is our super bowl he wins this game tomorrow the season is an absolute success and on the other side if michigan loses this game tomorrow whittingham is gonna be in hell let alone if he loses this game and against ohio state those people will not be your quarterback back you know i don't know i saw some stuff about it but i'm not sure if he's back pat what do you i'm third state for steve probably knows a little bit about this stuff but i assume you're standing with him now i'm not sure if you you got him are you assuming that by are you staring at the wall that's right next to you i would just say i'm not sure if you're standing with him now i'm not sure if you got him are you assuming that by are you staring at the wall that's right next to you i would just say i'm not sure if you're yeah i don't want to let the the viewers know that i could see him on a preview screen here but you just assumed something was about to happen i could sense the presence of greatness next to you so that's what i could how could you not by the way ladies and gentlemen it's not another guy it's the other guy stanford steve now we have a hard out here on espn in about a minute okay so we're gonna we're gonna delay the picks until the digital part of the program the other side yeah yes well said go swinging a hot bat go boom lead off home run that's what we need this guy's done tv a long time yeah has friends every 40 years uh 40 seasons of college game day lucky to be a part of it what are you just quick takes here as we're on the way out college football saturday nfl sunday we're in for and then monday night i think we have one of the best weekends of all that we've had in a long time no doubt i i can't offer anything but it's awesome separation saturday correct separation were you a part of the naming of separation i was not i would but you're gonna make me be a part of it probably yeah hey listen they this first time we've had a theme on college game day like it's separation saturday i'm like really herbie might have done it i think herbie came up with it herbie was in the middle of some real work today yeah herbie was doing it fresh out of baltimore last night fresh into the meeting thousand ideas which is why we love that man uh we'll continue digitally bussing boys with the paint will be next i think they're on campus see you then goodbye okay i'm gonna go to the bathroom let's do our picks on the other side all right hey hey listen other guy i can sense it just from the aura that's coming off of his soul right now this guy's gonna have a perfect fucking slate oh hell yeah where'd he go linebacker last night steve-o no no no a little o'rourke's uh cascade for dinner fantastic that's where we were at the o'rourke's great works yeah a lot of irish spots around here that really deliver you know they're fighting ones of those uh but nothing could deliver like you guys delivered in a real irish pub in dublin ireland thank you that was a performance we got fucked up dude yeah i'd say it was an all-timer i don't think there's full context around what happened that day we gotta remember there was how many irish lads standing right in front of us they could not hear us so many a lot of them all blocked out by mcquade's head though so it was pretty much one seamus serving pints oh seamus what a legend you almost had saban tip a pint sober for how many years shout out jr mahan's dude shout out to mahan's time bro that was a time it was and that's why when i'm in ireland i drink guinness oh it tastes better when i'm in america ice cold coors lak tap the rockies baby but you might see that as a theme tomorrow you might see that as a pretty loud theme tomorrow okay for things that might unfold that became quite a talking point in the meetings and throughout conversations throughout the day you know somebody stopping by the show might have a close affiliation with guinness okay maybe maybe maybe maybe but i want in america college game day we drink coors laks rockies now in front of those lads right there we were drinking guinnesses we were drinking thousands of them they felt like maybe two thousand was just serving them right he didn't have it one for you one for me lad what's the crack lad what's the crack lad i mean it was split the g right there if you see yep right there aj way to go paul i was about to well what a scene god what a day how shamus is on the mic number one i got to walk the streets with shamus for about 30 minutes just me and shamus were we broke off from the group somehow and it was the greatest 30 minutes of my life well i'm happy you survived it i mean i broke off from the group a couple times and i just you know i thought that was it for me and uh thank god it wasn't what a time over there maybe uh maybe we go back to dublin and celebrate life yes please i believe the rider cups there next year no no okay let's get to a break we're doing that no we're not talking about it we're not going over there until these u.s golfers prove that they're good again right there maybe they maybe they need us on foreign land that's a good point we should go valid maybe 100 200 guinnesses as we roll in there over to yep 2027 i'm sure that won't get rowdy us in ireland oh hammered have jr dust let's do it oh talking about america what a coincidence today yeah but see that's the issue is i think we don't know we'd be american through and through no we would not turn you did not almost just say that you have your hat on you have your hat on and if the if the boys play the way they played the last rider cup i think we would all be pretty disappointed with what's going on yeah that's a long way for an l yeah they're not gonna lose and even if they do we would win while we're there bingo hey well said i like that it's never a loss just to learn when you're in ireland you have a guinness when you're in america of course like that's right gonna hear that a lot tomorrow be a friend tell a friend something nice might change your life we're back on the other side take five strong communities are built in the places where life happens where families build their lives where students build their futures where businesses create opportunity bloom energy provides reliable power for the places communities depend on every day from hospitals and college campuses to stores and factories clean quiet power that uses little water right where it's needed so communities can keep moving forward bloom energy power america relies on as you know managing maintenance repair and operations is never easy but for the ones who always rise to the challenge granger has your back from professional grade products you can count on to fast dependable delivery they're there to help you keep things running smoothly plus their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions and because granger knows safety is always a priority they're committed to being your partner and protecting both your people and your facilities call 1-800 granger click granger.com or just stop by baby steve got it he mouthed it he said steve all come on didn't say you want to commit fully i i think you wanted i think you want well too late there was never too late for football foxy foxy please yeah here we go nope from the top please foxy this is week what for you now here with us five six i said it was off beat and the fact that we are very i'm with conviction yeah come with some confidence you've got to be a good player you got it you know it you pay just do it I'm so nervous for Steve right now. I know it. Hello, beautiful people. And welcome back to another phenomenal, fantastic Feel Good Friday, November 6th, 2026. Hour three of this program begins right now. Football! Yeah! Yeah! And a baby Steve! That's Stanford Steve. Obviously, he is not just an otter guy. He is the otter guy. He is the gambling guy from College Game Day. And he's been swinging a pretty solid bat thus far on college football. And in the NFL, boy, he can snoop it out. That's A.J. Hawk. The Talks and Tables here at Boston Corner. And that's Ty Schmidt. Lads, good to see you boys. Good to see you as well, Lads. Ty, how about a big compliment there from Desmond Howard? That has to feel pretty good. You know what? Just a pretty good little surprise. You know, didn't think Des was going to be on the show today. Had no idea. Just happened to wear my Packers sweatshirt. Boom. You got a Packers Super Bowl MVP saying, hey, go Pack, go. Good omen for this weekend, I think. Yeah, it certainly is. But you wore the Iowa sweatshirt the other day. J.J. Watt was on the show in Iowa, Wisconsin. Never got brought up. Oh, geez. I'm disgusted. Nah, we've done that in years past. It's kind of just that, you know, I mean. Swinging down, bunching down. Exactly. It's kind of the last couple years, listen, it's been a bug windshield kind of thing. So, and I don't think he wants to talk about it. Yeah, but, hey, bug different this year than they have been. It might be a bigger bug or maybe even a rock that can come crack said windshield. One half of the hammer. Don. Don. Wake up, Steve. Scott let out a good Don the other day. Don. Cowboys. AP Tone's back there. Tone, what does last night tell you about what could potentially come this weekend as we're set to make picks on the entire slate? Okay, so last night kind of is an indication of the weekend because when you look at the NFL schedule this weekend, it's the biggest spreads. That we've had so far this season. There's a lot of double digit spreads, good teams versus potentially not so good team. So if it's a, if it goes as it did last night, just lay those points babies and don't even think about it. Okay. Sounds like we have it all figured out. And that's what I love most about this particular segment. AJ, it is time to make our picks for the entire Sunday slate. Let's go to Madrid. Hola. I know who AJ is taking here. I'm going to go to the other side. Give me the Falcons. Oh, boy. Boy. No, people forget. AJ was a. Star for the Falcons for a couple of weeks. Yeah. Three and a half weeks in Atlanta. Went to the Superbowl. People forget. Yeah. I'm taking the Bengals though. You're right, Steve. Give me the Bengals. Okay. So, uh, Steve's on a Falcons, a plus three. AJ's on the Bengals minus three. Gumpy was Jude Bellingham over there. Who was he celebrating with? Yeah, he was with all the lads. The Falcons have really, uh, ingrained themself in Spain. Penix was wearing a Real Madrid tarp yesterday. Number nine, legendary number for real. I saw the shitey locker room that they're staying in. The Bengals are in a, that was considered a nice one though. I believe. Yeah. I just small, you know, it's a soccer locker room. It's not a football locker room. Oh, it's a food to ball. You're saying not a football, uh, locker room. The boys love their time over there. Jude Bellingham being around is good news for the team or bad news for the team. Jude Bellingham is an absolute legend. He scored a back heel the other day. That was phenomenal. He's been lights out for reality. Show us what that means. Gump. I'm not a soccer guy. What does that mean? Yeah. Let's go back. Can you stand up? Oh, maybe not. Maybe Steve could demonstrate. I'm sorry. I, my bad. Yeah. Steve probably, uh, I know what a bicycle kick is. Those are my favorite. Can you show what a back heel is? Right? That area right there. Probably there they are. So he would go like this like that, but, but what made it, but what made it so great, AJ, and I know you'll appreciate this, it was with his left foot, his off foot. That does change things for the other foot cheeky was very cheeky. So does that make, who do you like? Do you like, Oh, Oh, that's cheeky, man. See, that's, that's real. By the way. Boom. Oh, I see. We were talking about gum. That's pretty sweet. And if we go back to what dump did with his feet, he kind of did describe it and reenacted perfectly. We'll talk about that. So because of, Hey, you hanging out with the Falcons. Is that who you're going with? Oh, I love the Falcons. I mean, Bengals barely beat the Titans. If we're being realistic here, cam ward has his best game. They can't stop the run. Falcons have been over there all week. They love it. Stefanski loves it. I'll take Falcons plus three up in Don season for the Falcons. I think that'll continue jets, Kansas city, Kansas city favored by nine and a half. It was 10. I think yesterday, Stanford, Steve, how do you feel about this one is the home of the Jets coming to town without Garrett Wilson who has been officially ruled out versus chiefs due to his concussion. Stanford, Steve, your thoughts on nine and a half at this point was a 10 JJ said he's doing this game. Yes. Not a lot of good games. CBS says chiefs back on track. Breeze all back. No, I think so. Braylon Allen is Breeze all back. It's the biggest spread. I mean, it's the biggest spread. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. That's where Nance and JJ are going. No Niners. Yeah. Well, okay. You're talking about four CBS game in general. Yeah. I think maybe just cause chiefs, maybe chiefs are getting back hot. So I want to showcase who's going to be down the stretch. They know that Kansas city has a big fan base and it's going to deliver well. And you know, maybe just maybe, you know, who might be there, you know, I don't think coach Saban's Travis. I thought you go to the game after you go on the podcast. Well, Tom cruise did that. I saw Tom cruise was at the game and then he was on the podcast. I was at the game. I'll take the chiefs minus nine and a half. The chiefs are still the chiefs. Even though I think I put on the board back there at the Thunderdome that my best bet of the weekend was jets plus 10, nine and a half changes that for me. Nine and a half change that for me. AJ, who do you like? How do you like it? I like the chiefs to win here, but give me the jets minus nine or plus nine and a half. All right, let's go. Lions dolphins. Lions. They obviously get some good news coming out of the Jack Campbell front. We heard Kelvin shepherd get a bit emotional about his closeness with Jack Campbell and what Jack Campbell means to that entire team. They get a huge win over the undefeated Vikings last week. And then the Miami dolphins still trying to figure it out down there. Gumps. What are your thoughts as a dolphins fan on the lions coming to town? The proctologist is back. So we'll be pounding the rock a little bit better than last weekend. You know, I love this team, just the fight. They never quit. This will be a backdoor cover. Once again, Caden Proctor, offensive lineman out of Alabama, who is a rookie. The rookie is the proctologist that dumpy is speaking about, which I'm sure everybody watching knew that for the Miami dolphins, uh, Foxy, Michigan state, Michigan. Now the lions also with the dolphins could be a big weekend for you. Is that how you're viewing it? Absolutely huge weekend. Michigan state will upset Michigan tomorrow. And then this game, I couldn't be more confident with the lions all season long. We are not only have MCDC revenge game, but we also have Jack Campbell game. Give me lions. 45 21. Whoa. Wow. That's 24 points spread down there in South Florida. AJ. Who do you like? How do you like it? You know what? I was kind of waffling and I saw Foxy's conviction and I saw how much he believes in this team. So give me the Detroit lions. Yeah. Steve, how do you feel? There's no dome on that stadium, right? No. No. Oh, beautiful. I am warm. Wettered. Oh, it doesn't warm. Wetter. It has like perfect. Wetter. I would say dolphins wearing white. Absolutely. There you go. Partly cloudy. Partly cloudy. 82, 83, 83, 82. Yeah. That's exactly what you know. Dolphins weather, baby. Okay. That's dolphins weather. Just like Parker, who's two and oh on Monday night football predictions from football environment expertise. By the way, he always picks the weather is how he decides which teams are going to win. He said, it feels like bears weather here. It turns out it was, that is a two for two for him. You like the dolphin, the Jack Campbell angle and motivated by something a lot bigger than what's going on. Give me the lions minus six and a half. Even though that's. That's a tough place to play down here. This is especially 82 degrees. Got to fight the elements. Did we know last night was going to be last night with the rain? I didn't know. We were told 35% weather channel lied. People die. Our bets died. Okay. That's not cantor. Unfortunately it is. I didn't want to say it, but it is. It's on Jim Cantore. That's his, that's his app. That motherfucker. You think I'm using anybody else's app? I mean, I'll broker. He was, he was right. He said it was me. Raining broker. Didn't say shit. He did. Brokers. Just guessing these days. After he congratulated smuckers and 112 year old him as a classic. Listen, our broker is maybe other than Joe Nardo, obviously. Jim Cantore is obviously out there doing, he's more of like a, uh, he's a, he puts the X and MRX. You know what I mean? He's more like a climatologist. Yeah. He's more extreme. You know, Jim Cantore is a little bit Travis Pastrana, uh, the weather biz, but I'll Roker. I'll Roker is a little bit Travis Pastrana. Travis Pastrana. - There's a torrential downpour. So that was Jim Cantoria. Did you read the wrong date, Tone? Don't you dare put that on me. I've never misread the weather in my entire life. Actually, I probably put it on Steve in that Baltimore, you know, D.C. area for having stupid-ass weather. I flew out yesterday, so it wasn't my fault. Yeah, but you live there. My flight got out. How's your weather, though? Is weather crazy there, unpredictable? Wait 10 minutes. I mean, it's been really dry. So when it came, it came. It came all over. It came everywhere. Oh, my God. It said maybe 35%. It said, yeah, right, we're at 110 in here. And it just exploded all over town. And it ruined Fagnano's evening. I don't like that. We need better weather. Jim Cantoria, we'll give you one. This is one in 40 years he's gotten wrong. So we'll give him another one. But it really fucked us last night pretty big. It really did. Denver Broncos, Carolina Panthers. Broncos favored by two and a half on the road against a good football team, Carolina Panthers. Stanford Steve, who do you like? How do you like it? I'm going to take Denver because I'm tired of seeing them win and not play well, and I don't have them. So I'll take them this time. Okay, fourth quarter, a little heartbreak for the Denver Broncos to come back and do their thing. Bo Nix is captain clutch. AJ, who do you like? How do you like it? I like Denver here on the road, minus two and a half. Okay, I'll ride with you guys as well just because I like their team. Let's go to the Los Angeles Rams against the Commanders. Commanders offensive line, I believe in some ranking systems, is bottom five in the league. Miles Garrett trending to come back alongside Aaron Donald. First time we're going to see that. Rams favored by four and a half. Commanders had a little bit of life last week. Jaden Daniels looked good. How do you like it? I have no idea. Give me the Rams. I'll take the Rams. You wanted to take the Commanders, but you took the other team. I did. I don't trust them. Can't trust them. You can't. Can't trust the Commanders. Did anybody tell Coach Saban that they're the Commanders? Quite a moment this morning in the meeting. He didn't say the R word, did he? No. He just didn't know. I think it was hard to get it out. He just spoke. Yeah, he just said Washington a bunch of times. He said Washington. AJ, do you like Los Angeles Rams or Washington football team? I'm going to ride with Stanford Steve here and take the L.A. Rams. Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald are together for the first time. I'd like to see them have success just because we dreamed about it in the offseason. Maybe that gets going. Dallas Cowboys favored by five and a half in a tough, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis Colts team. You'd say the Indianapolis Colts are getting rid of all their good players. Uh-uh. We still got a bunch. That's why it's so surprising. We've been so assed for so long because we got rid of some of our best players, and we still got a bunch of players that are left on the roster that could go out and get you a win. Now, obviously, Colts plus five and a half is the easiest bet I've ever seen in my life. Give me that. Stanford Steve? Give me Dallas. What? The Cowboys? Yeah, they got to bounce back. This is a big spot for Shottie. You can't lose that game last week and then go play this team. I mean, the highlight of last week was Steichen talking about the hustle of Jonathan Taylor on the pick six. Yeah, I mean. That was a bad look. It was good hustle. It's a hard-ass league, dude. It is a frigging hard-ass league. Hard to win. Fudging, difficult to get things done. Jonathan Taylor also gave a speech after the game about how it's not going to get any easier. You know, some people would say maybe he's just trying to put on his best face so that he can maybe be showcased to another team. It's why he's walking down pick sixes and stuff like that. Whatever the case, he's a phenomenal football player. Yeah. And we cannot let him out of our building without getting a one back in return. Maybe two. You know what? Three ones, actually. You're not giving up on him. No way. All right. Let a deal happen. AJ, you like the Colts plus five and a half at home? Home dogs? Yeah, right. In the Loud House? I think last week I picked the Colts and that did not work out for me. So I'm going to take the Dallas Cowboys here on this one. Wow. Sounds like everybody's kind of jumping off your bandwagon, Colts. Use that as motivation. Because those guys in those Colts uniforms, they care about being Colts. It's obvious. Yeah, they do. Whenever you look at the way they play. Just pay double A. I like him. If he can play on offense, let's do that. Sounds like he's going to be appreciated. He's appreciative to be in the NFL on the Indianapolis Colts. I don't know about anybody else on that team, but I know Shane Steichen's going to get it done. Giants leaders in the clubhouse fresh off a bye. Taking on the Eagles, favored by three and a half. How do you like it? Yeah, Giants have not had success there. Isn't there a crazy long losing streak? Giants in Philly. I believe they get it done. I believe they cover the three and a half. Give me the G-men. Bruce Brown, are you a believer in J.J. McCarthy coming out of a bye week, pal, for your Giants? To that streak. This is the first time the Giants have been favored at the link since 2009, I believe, the last time. The last time they won there was in 2013. 13 straight losses in total, but a great opportunity. I think that the move to Bazooka Joe Milton kind of shows how desperate Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni are to throw a wrench into things in this NFC East, and I think it's an awesome opportunity for the Giants to step up and dominate and show that they're the top of the division. But with that said, I do not think that they will do that. I think Dominic Zvada hits a game-winning field goal, and the Giants do not cover. Okay, three and a half. Too much, he says. He likes the Giants to win, but not by four. A.J., who do you like? How do you like it? You know what? Bruce really messed me up on that one. You know, he's not picking his hometown squad to win, but you know what? Give me Philadelphia. I think Joe Milton. They find a way. My issue is, I just did this last night with home field advantage, division, all that. I mean, we know that those fans are going to be pretty pissed off if they don't get out to a hot start in Philly. I'll take the Giants. I believe in Harbaugh. I mean, why do I believe in J.J. McCarthy with a team having. A little bit of film on him now. Yeah, I got film. Bye week. All right. Bye week. Yep. Everyone does great. Did he forget to be a good? Did he forget how to be good? You know? Or another week in a playbook. Another week. That would look better. Oh, you're right. Another week, maybe some other plays. Yeah. All right. Shador Sanders starting for the Browns, taking on the New Orleans Saints, favored by three. Shador was asked about what he saw whenever he watched film on the defensive side. His answer is certainly. He certainly gained some notoriety. I believe we have the video here. Yeah, I've seen a lot. When I smile, just know that means something. Okay. I'm maturing. You know what I'm saying? I'm maturing. Like, I could have gave that, you know, a decent answer, but now I'm just going to smile whenever it's just like some questions, you know? Mm-hmm. Okay, so you're saying you think he could have given a decent answer? By talking shit on what he sees in the Saints' defense? Instead, he just said, when I smile, just know something happened. I like it. It feels like he does like what he's got going on against the Saints. AJ, is that what you heard? That's exactly what I heard. That's why I'm taking the Cleveland Browns here on this game. Okay, Browns plus three, says AJ. Stanford, Steve? Browns are a different team on the road, in a dome. Saints off a bye. Give me the Saints. Jordan Tyson's questionable. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Oh. Back, maybe. Kind of huge. Connor, which way are you going on this one? Oh, I'm taking the Saints. I think any time a quarterback does something like this, it always makes you look like an absolute performer on the other side. Oh, you mean act mature? Yeah. I mean, look, some people would call that mature. I would say he's a little too cocky for his britches. Oh, a little too mature? Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Look, I'm a shucker. You guys know that. I am a shuck guy. I'm shucking corn all day long. So I feel like they're going to win. And they're still in it for the division. What happens if, like, one player on the team says, if I get dumped in my head, you better stick up for me. And then everyone's like, well, don't get dumped on your head. Oh, you're talking about the Browns culture with Jared Verst saying nobody went to fight for him when McCormick dumped him up on his dome piece there? Yeah. Do we think there's problems in Moncant? No. Or Moncant. Oh. Or Moncamp. Oh, good one. Oh, man. In the Moncamp, who do you like? Saints. Who do you like, AJ? Browns. I'll take the Browns plus three. Just because I want to see Shigeru win after what he did yesterday. In the microphone. You know, like, all of his answers. Not just that one. Hilarious. Straight out of a movie. I appreciate it. He obviously has taken some sort of advice or mindset where he's like, I can't be giving the same types of answers I gave before, but I can't be changing who I am. Let me try to balance this entire thing. Got a lot going on. I'll take Shador Sanders getting a win over the Saints in New Orleans. Feel good about it? Love it. Okay. Yes, they Moncant. Raiders, Niners, Niners favored by two. Brandon Ayuk heading back in the building. What does that mean? Nick Bosa also there and DeForest Buckner. Stanford Steve, do you feel like the odds-on favorites to win the Super Bowl can beat the Raiders by at least ten and a half? I do not. I like the ten. Raiders have scored the ball. I like it. Raiders plus ten. It's in the middle of a fog out there in San Francisco. That could bog some people down. Not a smog? Not a smog because they're not going to be smoking as much, he said. They kind of put the smokes away. It's only a fog. It's like a lintel. London fog out there in Santa Clara, they say. Got it. Yeah, 49 degrees, 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Fog, fog, fog, fog, fog. Can't trust it. AJ, who do you like? What's in the fog? I do not like the Niners on this one. I like them to win, but ten points is a lot. Give me the Raiders. I'll take the Raiders plus ten. Nope. Give me the Niners. This feels like you're supposed to take the Raiders plus ten, doesn't it? Yeah. Wouldn't you be the one to win? Yeah, that's why I did. Yeah, but that's what I'm saying. They want us to take Raiders plus ten, don't they? Yeah. Yeah. They kind of said, hey, Steve, we want you to ten points. That's a lot of points. Yeah. Kirk's doing pretty good, isn't he? Mm-hmm. That's what they want us to do this. But you're not. How many they lost in a row? None. One last week. Who? Oh, yeah, they beat the Jets. That's homie. That doesn't count, though. They had lost four in a row. Mm-hmm. Thank you. Got it. I'll take the Niners. Give me the Niners. All right. Jenty's not running back anymore, right? No. No, they got that other guy in Washington. Ayuk might score two touchdowns. He might. That's not going to happen. They hate him over there, it sounds like. Texans, Chargers, Texans favored by six. I'll take the AFC South. A lot of knocking on the AFC South last night. I think Kirk Herbst right now, Michael, showed 45 different graphics about the fucking AFC South and the state of it. Well, how about the Houston Texans go out and get a big-time winning cover against the Chargers? Who do you like, Steve? I can't believe it's only six. This is why I think they're begging you to take Houston. Oh, no. I'm going to do it. I'm taking the Chargers. Oh, no. Steve Bowe, under guy pick of the week. We needed him to get hot. Do you realize what we have to go to in two Mondays? Yeah, yeah. Like, yeah. We need something. Give me a glimpse. We're definitely going to get hot. Okay. AJ, do you like the Chargers plus six at home? That matters. Home field advantage certainly matters. The Chargers fans are rallied completely around them from our understanding. I do not like that at all. I will take the Texans minus six. McDaniel's going up to the booth. Oh, shit. How are we going to stay in cool shoes? That's a nice booth at SoFi, too. Nice. Yeah, but they also got 8K cameras. We'll see them up there. They'll have a fisheye to make sure they get his shoes in there up in the booth. And will he be a stand-up? I was going to say, he might stand and call plays. Yeah, he might. He's a pacer. He said, listen, I think we're going to try that this week. Seems like a good action to take based on how things have gone this year. We have to make some sort of change. You know, nobody got fired. Nobody's getting traded. Nothing's ever happening. We still stink. We haven't won a game. Everybody thought we were going to be really good. This is an ass of a season. But we've got to make some sort of change. Maybe it'll help. I just bank on Houston Texans being able to figure it out. Packers, Patriots, this is a big one. Mike, a back on the practice field, not a back on the field for a while. A.J. Brown, Travion Henderson, not going to be playing for the New England Patriots. Conman, how do you feel about being favored by three? I feel pretty good about it. It feels like a good number, a tough number to bet on. It's never one of those things where, to Bruce's point, you know, like the three and a half for the Giants. You aren't too sure about it. But, I mean, Patriots are playing their best football. We talk about the Packers and their run game. Not being able to run the football. The Patriots are a top five run defense. It feels as though it really is going to be a Jordan Love versus Drake May. Let's go out there and see what happens. But I feel good. Marcus Jones, nickel cornerback. He did practice today. Huge for New England and also Hunter Henry practiced today. So, two guys who kind of got baned up last week. I feel good about it. I think it's going to be a push either way you take it. Patriots. Wow. As easy as that. I don't like the Packers. Packers offensive line really worries me in this matchup. Yakis is rookie of the year in my opinion. Yes. I just think I like the matchup for the Patriots. Patriots favored by three. Tom Brady's going back there. Did you hear? Oh, that's where he has to walk across the fans. There's an area he has to walk across. And what they think it's going to be just a parade. Mayhem. Well, Gronk, he's going into the Patriot Hall of Fame at halftime. The whole boys are going to be there. There's going to be a lot of reliving of the glory days for the Patriots this past weekend. So, Vrabel said he's contractually obligated to talk to Tom. It's coming up. He's going to Zoom call. He certainly won't be here. I think a lot of good memories feed into a good celebration. Can't lose in that game. I like the Patriots as well. Belichick's playing at Rensselaer Field. That's not far from Patriots' place. That's true. Will he be there? Yeah. I'm sure that'll happen. Probably. Bill might scoot up there. Bob Kraft, unfortunately, also on the IR. He had back surgery. He will not be there. Are they going to have him? What was that college coach that was in the hospital bed? Oh, it was not. Oh, Hugh. Yeah, Hugh Freeze. That was awesome. Hugh Freeze. Maybe Bob Kraft has one of those situations for a Gronka player that he absolutely loves. AJ, who do you have? Packers plus three? Yeah, I do. I have the Packers. I think this would be a good back-and-forth game, but I got the Packers. Okay, let's go to Cardinal Seahawks. Who you got? Who? You. Patriots. Yeah. He just wanted to hear it again. I like Colts, too. I like Colts, too. You want to ask Steve who he's got, too, Con? What did you say? You want to ask Stanford Steve who he has? Oh, no. I know what our guy is. Our guy, right. Who's Ty got? Yeah. I'm going to take the Packers, as well. Oh, fuck you, man. Seems like a biased pick. I don't like that. They're saying our show is disgusting already, and now we just got all these biases. The all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers? Packers. He takes the Packers. Ty Schmidt, owner of the Packers? Oh, isn't it nice? Connor? Wow. His name's Boston Connor? He's taking the Patriots. Feels like we got to really figure that around here. If people really want to do a deep dive. A deep dive on this program, which it seems like a lot of people do, it's not that deep. No. Now, on that note, anytime somebody's going into a Hall of Fame or a Ring of Honor, I think the teams have to play well, because the OGs are in the building, so you feel an obligation to show up. A lot of injuries for the Patriots scares me a little bit, but Drake May, I think he understands the importance of this type of shit. I think Tom Brady being there is a big deal for Drake May. I think it is a big deal for the team as a whole, and it's not just Tom, Gronk, Jules, the entire squad. I can't wait to see who is all there to celebrate this entire thing. I can't wait to see how many times they show the Tom Brady statue. Does Gronk have a statue up there? No, just Tom. Tom's the only one. Is that why Vrabel's so pissed off all the time? Vrabel's seemingly always pissed off whenever Tom Brady gets mentioned. He's always contractually obligated. We know he won't take time out of his fucking life to come up here and talk to us. Is that what he said? The Super Bowl shit was nuts. It made no sense for him to say he doesn't have a dog in the fight. It definitely doesn't make any sense. I mean, every single guy who played for Seattle, whether it was Jimmy and Joe and some schlub or Richard Sherman, were like, yes, of course, let's go Seahawks. So that was the shit that was just kind of like, all right, fuck this guy. So that was the one. That was the driver there. I would assume, yes. I mean, they were teammates together, too. It wasn't like they didn't play together. Through touchdown passes to a Super Bowl. Why would he not be pulling for his? For his team. Tom was critical of Vrabel. And then Vrabel also, right? He was in the documentary saying, this little Tommy image you guys have is just not who he is at all. I think he said that, right? Yeah, that was Tom's doc, too. That wasn't like ESPN or, I mean, ESPN produced it. But Tom was the one that made that doc, the man in the arena. And yeah, Vrabel said, and like the image you have of Tom isn't who he actually is. Like, he's a tough, mean son of a bitch. Okay, so good luck to the Patriots. Good luck to the Patriots having to show up for all the OGs that are there. There's going to be a lot of gold jackets in that building. A lot of gold jackets in that building. I think you have to win on those types of days. Cardinals versus Seahawks. Seahawks favored by eight and a half. Bounce back game after getting exposed, embarrassed, or just a bad game against a very good Chicago Bears team. What is your thoughts on that? I trust Coach Mack. Culture. Seahawks. Minshew. Love them, but tough spot. Lay it. Take it to the back. Lay it. Yeah, this might be. Can we change the dry erase board? Yeah. I think Foxy changed the whole thing to a touchdown score this week. Oh, okay. Well, I was never told. It's my first time participating in dry erase board. Way to go, Fox. Dickhead. Normally, I don't think that far in advance to stop by the thing before I'm out of town, and then you guys are doing it all, and I miss it, and I feel like I'm left out of this entire thing. So we're doing touchdown scores. I would like the Seahawks minus eight and a half here, even though I like the Arizona Cardinals. That's a good football team. 39 and a half kind of scares me a little bit. Is that all Seattle? Or I think the Seattle Seahawks defense, after what happened to them on primetime, is going to be fucking a bear. Yeah. You know, actual, figuratively. Okay. I'll take the Seahawks minus eight and a half. AJ, you're on the same? I think Seahawks win, but I'm taking the Cardinals plus eight and a half. Cardinals, good football team, man. Yep. I agree. I believe in guard. I need one more for their season win total. Yeah. I like that. We're very early. Three and a half. I believe in Minshew as well. I just think the Seahawks, after what happened in primetime, I don't know. It just feels like. I don't know. That's a big bounce back game. And then speaking of primetime, here we go. Chicago Bears taking on the Buccaneers Sunday night football. Bears fresh off the best performance we've seen of their team, this iteration of the Chicago Bears. Jeffrey Simmons gets traded in and within a couple of days becomes a leader and a game wrecker and a pillar of the Chicago Bears defense. They're going to be a problem. And then Caleb Williams, since coming back after the hamstring injury that he had, he's been playing his absolute best ball. Roma Dunze will make some big time catches. They have running backs that can go crazy. The offensive line's retooled. Built. They go nuts. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been able to win two games without completing a forward pass. They're playing like rugby and like Iowa. Are they going to be able to keep this as muddy as they need it to be to keep it within six as the Bears are favored at home in a 47 and a half over under game on NBC? Stanford, Steve, your thoughts? How do you see it? Everybody's going to be on the Bears. I'm going to say Bears win Bucs cover. Okay. So everybody is going to be on the Bears, I assume. AJ, who are you on? I'm on the Bears here. Yeah. It's hard. Not to after what I just saw. Yeah. Hard to forget what you just saw. Hardest thing to do in this job. Mark, I like that. And with Jeffrey Simmons, with Jeffrey Simmons there, I don't think you're going to have to complete a pass, I think. Yep. Like one? At least one. And I'm not saying that they can't, but we don't know what Baker's thumb is. We still don't know. He hasn't had to like showcase if he can throw a ball, really, because they build that glove to protect him. They haven't really had to throw. Torrential downpour game last week. Buccaneers defense obviously made Pennix's life miserable. But for me, Jeffrey Simmons is a real game changer for the Chicago Bears team. And it'd be impossible after watching him do what they did on Monday to not just bet on him again. And Caleb did post that. I picked the Seattle Seahawks Monday Night Countdown thing in his, not even on, it wasn't even in his story. It was on a fucking main post. Oh. I think it's living on there. So we might be a part of a problem. The Seahawks are your team. That's all fair. He didn't know that. I don't think he knew that. I don't think Seahawks people knew that either, by the way, since I was out there. I don't know. I think the Seahawks building does. I think like the Seattle Seahawks building, they watch us because we're a morning show over there. So I think. They got us in the building, which we're very thankful for. Very appreciative of the hospitality. But, man, I don't think anybody could have expected the Bears to do what they did to that Seattle Seahawks team. Nobody's ever done that before. But this might be the brand new Bears. All right, Steve-O. Hey. What do you got next? College Football Live. Hoops. I got the hoops. College Football Live Live? Yeah. Fake Live? No. Steve, what do you mean? Hey, Jay, we appreciate you traveling in the Thunderdome, buddy. Have fun tomorrow. Tomorrow's going to be a good one for you, I think. I think so, too. I think Notre Dame's going to be a fantastic scene. Hey, Gumpy, good work this week. Gumpy. Good work, everybody. Gumpy, your thoughts on Miami tomorrow? Obviously, heartbreaking news this week. I'm fired up. I think we'll be all right. Okay. Just going to pound the rock and pound the rock and pound the rock. Boom. And guess what? What if that doesn't work? Upshaw is pretty good as a wide receiver, if everybody didn't know. Okay. And guess what? What? Lofton's a damn good tight end. What? And guess what? What? There's Dre Jacobs out there, too. Wow. And guess what? What? Cooper Barcate and Darian Mensah were setting records in the ACC at Duke last year. What? What? So we ain't dead yet. Chris Ball, okay? Is he going to be able to lead people? That's where this all stems from. I believe in Chris Ball. I will follow Chris Ball into anywhere, anyplace, any time. Hmm. He's been a little. His dauber's been down, though. There was a couple days there where Gumpy was, you know, moping around. His little tiny feet, you'd hear him scraping around. Dink, dink, dink, dink. And he just sees his little head down. He loses control of his head, really. Just flopping around. And he had this big U fucking headband thing that he was wearing. I don't know. I guess Cam, I assume Cam from the U sent him this whole entire gift pack. He's popped up in all this shit. And just all you see is the top of it because he's just fucking moping around. It's like, you all right? Yeah, I'm good. I'm the number one team in the country. Like, oh. It doesn't seem like. It doesn't seem like you're okay. Is everything all right? Well, Chris Ball, motivate him. He's back. We're happy to see that. Boys, great work this week up there on the stage. Good luck tomorrow. Thank God Election Day happened this week, boys. God. God, it was nice to wake up on Wednesday, Thursday, and just no longer be in that world. I don't think I signed up to be in that world either, but everybody's saying I did. I would like that to be known, that I did not knowingly know that I was doing that. And on that note, now that we're past all that, it all happened, now we're back to sports, baby. Aren't we? Full focus on sports. Hell yeah. Full focus on everybody. I'm not talking about us. We've been on. Everybody full focus on sports. The politics got figured out this week. Everything happened how it was supposed to happen. I guess. That's what elections are. Good luck. Congrats, everybody. Congrats. Congrats, everybody. Great service. You want that? Yeah, for the next one. Yeah. For that. We were going to run the Duck College. We were going to try to help ourselves. We were going to try to help. Society. We were going to run the Duck Hodges registered vote video that he made with the Pittsburgh Steelers on election day, but then we were told it was too late to register. So that was actual voting day, not registered day. So we'll get better at that next time. Boys in the back, good work. Good work. Good week, boys. Good work. Graphic design boys, phenomenal stuff. I genuinely. Every week, you never know what's going to come from that group. They're all artists, and they all have great ideas. Seemingly, just goldfish mentality. Like, what happened yesterday doesn't matter. What we did last week doesn't matter. Every day's a new day. I appreciate how fresh you are. Good work, graphic design boys. Good work. Good work, boys. How's Bone doing today? He seemed pretty excited when we FaceTimed earlier, Ty. He's doing okay. You know, I told him, like, hey, you can kind of drop the facade. We all know what you do. You order McDonald's at about 1245 and then try to scarf it down before we. get there, you know, at 105. And he's like, yeah, you know, sometimes it gets there at the worst time. You guys all come out and catch me red-handed. So he had his, you know, chicken and rice with a little bit of soy sauce in the middle like he does every fucking day. But I guarantee we're going to walk back out there and I might dig through the trash a little bit and see if I can find a McDonald's bag down in the bottom. Well, hey, that's a count of Bill of Buddies. I thank you for doing that. There will be one down there. A count of Bill of Buddies there. He's got a bird's trash now? Yep. Man. Yeah. Well, maybe, I mean, hey, listen, we're just, we're just don't do it, you know? But on that note, Bone, great work this week. Dirty, great work this week. Mitt, good work, buddy, Mitt. Good work, buddy, Mitt. And for those that don't know, probably a lot of people we're talking to right now in the Thunderdome, it's Mitt's birthday tomorrow. Happy birthday, Mitt. Shut the city down. Look out, Indianapolis. Uh-oh. Hey, Mitt, fuck off. Hide his keys. Yeah, hide his keys. Let's fucking go, dude. What's his plan? He should at least tell us. We're getting fucked up. Just like last night. Okay, now, he, Mitt. Everybody's impression really, really good. Mitt, you're an adult, dude. You're an adult. Let's remember that. We're in the middle of the season. Oh, there he is. Not tonight. Fuck that, dude. We're getting fucked up all weekend. Dad gave me $100 to spend at the bar. Okay. All right. We love you, buddy. I feel good. Where is he? Zito and Tim. Thank you. He said, thank you. Oh, did he? Actually, he said, thank you. All of that is very true. Pour the drink right now. Zito and Tim McAfee, way to go this week. I mean, just an unbelievable display out of Zito and Tim this week. I mean. What do you mean? That is exactly right. Well, we had an overheating of Iraq, which dropped us six minutes before we're supposed to be live. And then, obviously, technology. You should have seen the turbulence in the back room today. No. All right. Okay. Okay. Great recovery, though. Like, eight minutes and back up and going. That was really good. The amount of, in theory, conversations that were happening between Zito and Tim, and then I had to pop my head in. It's just an absurd thing. That was my favorite part of the week, to be honest. Was it really? Yeah. I hope you're happy. I was sitting right next to you two having that conversation. So, I'm not going to get in. It would be impossible to explain right now. In theory, fans. Okay. Like, fans, in theory, they pull air from the backside, and then they shoot air out the front side, right? Exhaust fans, like, super-duper commercial-grade, powerful fans, they pull a lot of air. Little house dorm fans, like, they're not sucking air out of an area. We had fans around the rack that overheated. But they were facing away from the rack, because it was going to be pooling the heat away from the rack. Oh, blow the bad air out. Smart. Easy. Barcodes fucking popping over here. Boss is crying. Barcodes, I mean, they were fucking dying laughing over here. That happened. That happened. What happened? How do we overheat this thing? Don't we have fans in there? This is like a big deal. Having fans, I've heard, is a big deal. Go back there. These fans are shooting. Away from this fucking thing. And I was just so, I've never been more confused in my life. And then, obviously, Tim had a little gimmick that you hold it up, and it tests how much air is going through. You know, like a little, so it'll tell you. I took his little fucking gimmick, and I was like, it's not moving any air. He's like, but a fan, it pulls the hot, and it's colder down here. I'm like, Jesus fucking Christ. So, this was the fan that was being used. If you guys have one of these fans, just know it's not sucking 160-degree air out of a rack. Okay? This one doesn't have enough juice. It doesn't have enough suck on the backside. We learned that all together this week. We learned it all together. Live and learn. Yes, you do. I was just, in theory, yes. But, turns out, reality, that thing crashed. It overheated. Shout out to Barcode. Big pops over here. Still laughing. On that note, shout out to Barcode and all the crew here. Thank you guys for sending us off. Incredible setup here. All right, let's get out of here. He said he's a Barcodeiac, by the way. Yeah. Yeah, and he needs one of your shirts. See, you got some merch out there. Cooking from the cock chair. We all need your shirts. Yeah, we like shirts. I don't want any stickers on this shit, but we do need some shirts. I don't need a shirt. I'm good. Yeah, me neither. Ty said he does not want a shirt. Actually, Connor said no. I got way too many shirts already. I don't need any more. Getting rid of them. Ty actually bought it from your website. So, actually, we do want to support the business. If you could send us a link, we'd like to do that. Last thing before we get out of here. Steve, you're ever looking fucking just a blessed ground. Wow. Every day. What are your thoughts as we look into the week? I'm just thinking about I'm 0-1 on that field. Brutal. But you had a touchdown, didn't you? No. Two. No. How about a pancake? A couple pancakes? No. I had a great block, but I was blocking the wrong guy. What'd you go for? 160? That's all right. 10 catches, 160. Option in the end zone. Block the defensive end. Not supposed to be blocking the end. That's a guy who we're optioning. He's trying to option him. Hey, it'd be like that sometimes. Should've ran dual. Should've ran dual. Should've. Should've. Let's get the hell out of here. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice about changing life. We're in this thing together. We can't thank all of you. We're pointing at the camera up here in the front. You. Enough. This one's. Yeah. If it wasn't for all of you, we wouldn't be able to do this. We're standing in Notre Dame Stadium right now somehow. It's absolutely absurd that this is the life we get to live. And it's only because all of you. And we hope. Have the greatest weekend of all time. Ball is going to deliver. We'll see you on and over. reaction monday where we're live from minnesota hey now be a friend tell your friends have a nice my change of life for this thing together team on me anything you say to the group steve go team team on three yeah have the greatest weekend of all time baby one two three team goodbye having uncontrolled eosinophilic esophagitis or eoe can mean you're stuck in many ways like cutting your food into tiny pieces or stuck chewing food for a long time dupixent dupilumab a prescription medicine for patients one year and older weighing at least 33 pounds can help with that it's a breakthrough treatment that can reduce inflammation in the esophagus and improve swallowing you can get with this or you can get with that how about this dupixent is not a steroid it proactively treats eoe so you can get ahead of it severe allergic reactions including skin reactions can occur get help right away if you have trouble breathing or wheezing or swelling of your face mouth tongue or throat tell your doctor of new or worsening joint aches and pain or a parasitic infection or asthma don't change or stop other treatments without talking to your doctor feeling stuck with eoe start treating with dupixent talk to your gastroenterologist or allergist today about dupixent learn more at dupixent.com or call 1-844-DUPIXENT progressive's accident response can contact emergency services if you're in a major accident the only thing worse than someone you love being in an accident is not being able to help them so progressive is here to help when you can so get peace of mind knowing your loved ones are protected with progressive's accident response learn more at progressive.com progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates limited availability in california driver is responsible for emergency and towing charges not covered by the policy coverage subject to policy terms and conditions